FRANKFORT — You could call them a group of would-be terrorists. But these were the good guys.

        The 30 or so emergency managers from around Kentucky leaned over a city map as they discussed Frankfort's weaknesses.

        An example of one idea from a member of the group was to strike on one side of town to draw all the police and firefighters over there, and then hit the real target on the other side.

        The group met last week at the National Guard headquarters for a seminar on terrorism and how to respond to it.

        The training was planned before the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. But the events of Sept. 11 gave a sense of urgency.

        Such training has been going on for years with the help of the federal government.

        After the bombings of the World Trade Center in 1993 and the federal building in Oklahoma City two years later, federal law made it mandatory for cities and counties across America to draw up terrorism-response plans.

        All Kentucky counties have done that, and 198 officials have taken training like the session offered last week by consultants for the U.S. Department of Justice, said Cash Centers, who is in charge of emergency response operations for the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management.

        And officials are planning for a range of potential attacks.

        Clifford Tsuboi, a professor with the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce at the University of Kentucky, helped draw up the list. He said the 2,100 possible targets include power plants, hospitals and gathering places, such as stadiums.

        Capt. Robert Stack of the Lexington Police Department said the city is applying for a federal grant of more than $200,000 to buy airtight suits, gas masks, decontamination equipment and a device that can identify chemicals present in air or water.

        Matthew Snorton, the disaster and emergency coordinator for Christian County, attended the seminar.

        He played the role of one of the terrorists. He said he feared someone might consider wiping out a small, vulnerable town in America's heartland. At the same time, he worries that a focus on security could mean a loss of liberty.

        Mr. Snorton said his county is “absolutely not” prepared for a terrorist attack on the scale of what happened in New York.

        “But I'm prepared now to start thinking like an oddball, which will help me maybe to be prepared,” he said.

        “They have forced us to think their way.”

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