Group seeks plan for a secure state Maine leaders gather in Bangor

BANGOR – Under tight security Monday, federal, state and local officials embarked on a four-day conference to develop their vision of Maine’s homeland security in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“If we’re going to live in a free and open society, there are some precautions we’re going to need to take,” Maj. Gen. Joseph Tinkham II, the state’s adjutant general, said outside the conference, which drew about 75 state and community leaders to the Maine National Guard base in Bangor.

The group will create a document outlining Maine’s plan to react to any future attacks.

Tinkham, Gov. Angus King’s representative at the conference, said striking that delicate balance between security and civil liberties would certainly be one of the topics with which the group would wrestle.

The conference, cosponsored by King and the Maine National Guard, is designed to formulate state policies for dealing with terrorism.

King is scheduled to address the conference this afternoon.

Today’s morning session also will feature an address from Duncan Campbell, intergovernmental affairs director with the White House Homeland Security Office.

On Monday, U.S. Rep. John Baldacci said in a statement that, first and foremost, the federal government should prepare front-line responders – firefighters, police, hospital and emergency response personnel – for possible terrorist strikes.

“Acting quickly, efficiently and effectively will be essential for saving lives, securing our communities and securing our nation,” Baldacci, a candidate for governor, said, adding that he supported President Bush’s $3.5 billion fiscal year 2003 budget for first responders.

The budget includes $2 billion for emergency equipment and $1.1 billion for police, fire and ambulance responses to biological and chemical attacks.

But officials at the Monday conference said the slow-in-coming federal money was an obstacle to observing state and local emergency protocol already in place.

“Security is better, but it could be better yet in terms of planning and awareness,” Tinkham said.

While Maine might be a rural state with a relatively small population, officials said the state could be a potential target or entryway for terrorists with its more than 600 miles of border with Canada and miles of uninhabited coastline.

“It doesn’t have to be Manhattan. It can be rural Maine if you want to make a statement,” said York County Emergency Management Agency Director Robert Bohlmann, noting the recent mail bombings in rural Nebraska. “You’ll make the same statement and you’re going to get the same level of fear.”

Six months ago, a trace of talcum powder in the mail could have prompted a scare the likes of which the state had never seen, Bohlmann said.

But since the September attacks and the subsequent anthrax scares, Americans – for better or worse – have largely resumed normal lives with little thought of homeland security, officials said.

Orono Fire Chief Lorin LeCleire said after the morning session that the group had to be sure not to make false promises to the public when devising its vision and accompanying mission statement.

“I don’t think we want to come out and say that we’re going to make you safe,” said LeCleire, adding that the group needed instead “to assure the public that we will offer protection and recovery from an event.”

“As a country, we’re not ready to give up all our civil liberties for total security, and until we do that we’re a potential target for a terrorist attack,” LeCleire continued. “We’re not ready to give that up and I wouldn’t want to.”