Jackman residents cope despite rumors

JACKMAN – Wednesday evening, two men sat at the counter of Mama Bear’s Den restaurant on Jackman’s Main Street eating dinner. One turned to the other and said, “They went right through here, you know. The terrorists.”

The second man answered, “Ya, I heard.”

And they went back to their Salisbury steaks.

Although the television in the corner of the restaurant continuously broadcast pictures of the recovery effort in New York, the men gathered at the counter talked of everyday life: wood harvesting, trucks, and how good dinner was.

“Although the terrorism is on all our minds, the reality is life goes on,” one of the men said when asked about the tragedy.

Despite the terrorists’ apparent journey through their community, no one in Jackman reported seeing any FBI presence Wednesday. A mile up the road toward Canada, several Jackman residents said the community is not blaming itself for letting the terrorists in.

Ken Sopp runs Jackman Hardware on Route 201. Speaking about the terrorists Wednesday, Sopp said, “If they had papers and no weapons, why would they be stopped? To us it’s not so much that they came through here, but more what they did afterwards.”

Robert and Jeanette Symons of New Jersey, who had just entered Maine through the Jackman crossing, stopped at a convenience store for gas and were shocked when told the terrorists may have used the same crossing. “Oh! We’re on a vacation to Quebec and we must be traveling the same route they did,” Jeanette Symons said. “How horrifying.”

Her husband, Bob Symons, said, “It just goes to show you that if they could fool the border agents at a small crossing like this, which is not too busy and has plenty of time to check you over, they really knew what they were doing. I don’t think there’s a border anywhere that could have stopped lunatics like this.”

Michael Unru of Jackman, the desk clerk at Moose River Skylodge, said the community should not feel bad.

“I’m sure they did everything by the book at the border,” he said. “If nothing raises a red flag, you know they’re going to get through.”