Mainers react in disbelief to attack

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BANGOR – Kerri Campbell of Bangor watched the World Trade Center towers collapse on television Tuesday morning and quickly planned an extra trip to the grocery store.

The mother of a 2-month-old baby boy, Campbell, 30, somewhat sheepishly admitted she wanted to stock up on extra batteries, canned goods and water. The blast that shook America and the rest of the world had shaken her secure existence, Campbell said, and she was preparing for the worst, an attack closer to home.

“New York City, the World Trade Center, is only eight hours away,” said Campbell, putting a blanket over her son’s baby carrier to shield him from the sun outside of Doug’s Shop ‘n Save grocery store on Broadway.

The horror of the terrorist blasts and the realization she lived within spitting distance of the Bangor International Airport put the new mother on heightened alert.

“If it was just me, I would just sit there and watch it unfold on TV,” she said, gazing at her infant son. “But I have responsibilities now, someone who depends on me for protection.”

Fear. Anger. Dire predictions of future attacks. These words describe the reactions of a cross-section of Maine residents to the quadruple plane crashes in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania that have struck key buildings, caused massive casualties and shaken this country to its core.

Campbell had a right to be scared, according to janitor Dan Shaw who stopped in Tuesday afternoon at Lucky’s Variety Store on Center Street in Bangor.

“We’re not done yet. Something really big is gonna happen. This is just the beginning,” predicted Shaw, who works at the Brewer post office. Shaw said he was supposed to end his shift at 11 a.m. Tuesday but was sent home an hour early when the postmaster closed the building.

Asked to respond to the theory that the terrorist attacks were caused or influenced by the Middle East, Shaw said, “It’s not the blacks and whites who are going to battle with each other. We’re gonna look hard at everyone that wears a turban now.”

The Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building on Harlow Street, Bangor, emptied out by 11 a.m. Normally a bustling activity center, the building stood dark and silent in Tuesday’s afternoon sunshine. Security Guard Larry Pratt was among a handful of personnel allowed to walk inside the building.

Pratt waxed philosophical when asked if he was scared to go inside a facility considered somewhat vulnerable to attack.

“When your time comes [to die], it comes,” Pratt said. Asked if he thought more attacks were imminent, Pratt said, “I imagine ol’ George [Bush] will take care of us.”

In the Bangor area and other parts of Maine, it was far from business as usual as news quickly spread about the attacks. In virtually every public place offering a television, crowds gathered to hear the latest news from New York and Washington, D.C., and to try to come to terms with the tragedies. The mood was tense and quiet.

At the Bangor Mall, several individual stores began closing about 11:30 a.m. By 3 p.m., the entire mall shut down.

“We’re dead,” said general manager Bruce Soper, less than two hours before taking the unusual step of closing the mall. “Nobody has any idea what to do, how to act. Right now, this is more or less a place where people are coming to walk and think.”

The mood was similar elsewhere in the area.

Ted Withee of Detroit was shopping early Tuesday afternoon with his wife at the Best Buy near the Bangor Mall.

“I was devastated. I just couldn’t believe it. I got the same feeling I had when President Kennedy was assassinated and I saw [Lee Harvey] Oswald get shot [on television],” he said describing his reaction when he heard the news on a morning television show. “It was the same feeling – you just can’t believe what you’re actually seeing.

“I’m dumbfounded, heartbroken,” he said. “Where do you go from here?”

Evelyn Spack, owner of Abbot Village Bakery and Cafe, said Tuesday she was in shock just like everyone else. “I think it’s horrible and I think they should track down whoever is responsible and make an example of them,” she said.

“I’m outraged and I’m horrified,” Elaine Roberts of Abbot echoed. “I’m deeply saddened by the loss of so many lives.”

She said she hoped that the government would identify those responsible and bring them to justice.

“We have to be ever watchful of such terrorist attacks,” Ronald Morin of Madawaska said Tuesday. “It is awful, and I hope there is some reaction to this after they find out who did it.”

Morin, a military veteran, has a son living in New York and had heard from him early in the day Tuesday, learning that he was OK.

In northern Penobscot County, employees at the Millinocket, Lincoln and Howland town offices listened to or watched in disbelief the news reports about the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center in New York.

“It’s incredible,” said Lori Santerre, Millinocket’s personnel director, as she and other employees listened to radio reports. “Everyone is just devastated. They don’t know what to think. It’s hard to believe.”

“I’m astonished,” said Millinocket Police Chief Carlton Jones, who stopped by the town office Tuesday morning to pick up the department’s mail.

Jones and his wife have airplane tickets for a trip to Florida in a few weeks. “It’s frightening,” he said. “My first reaction was ‘Gee, do I really want to go?’ A lot will depend on what happens in the next few days. We will talk it over and decide. It’s something you don’t really expect.”

“Why?” asked Lincoln Town Manager Glenn Aho, who along with other employees who kept one ear tuned to radio broadcasts.

“How many of us have left Boston’s Logan Airport on an American Airlines? … Very often,” said Aho. “It brings this real close to home. It shakes your sense of security.”

Aho said tragic events like this are difficult to predict, but it also raises questions about the FBI and the CIA. “They had no clue that any of this was going on.”

“Isn’t that terrible,” said Howland Town Manager Glenna Armour as she and other town employees watched a small television set someone brought into the town office.

“Now this plane outside of Pittsburgh went down. What to heck is going on?” Armour asked. Just about everyone who stopped by the office remarked about the tragic terrorist attacks.

“One of the guys said we could be at war and don’t even know it,” said Armour. “It is not just New York; they hit the Pentagon in Washington and now this plane outside of Pittsburgh. We have been sitting here and saying what is next. This was certainly well-planned.”

Armour views Tuesday’s events as a wake-up call to build up the strength of the country’s military again.

“Everybody knows the United States is so passive now. Look at the number of bases that have been closed. I’ve never heard of anything so asinine as selling weapons to some of these people,” she said.

Bernard “Snig” Larlee, an East Millinocket resident, a veteran and former postmaster, said he was shocked about the World Trade Center. Years ago, his late brother had worked across from the Trade Center, and he and his wife, Eloise, have pictures of their visit there.

“What surprised me more than anything was the fact the buildings collapsed,” said Larlee. “I don’t think there is a blessed thing you can do to prevent it as long as there are crazies out there.”

NEWS reporters Mary Anne Lagasse, Diana Bowley and Beurmond Banville contributed to this report.