FORT KENT – The calendar on the wall directly in front of Fort Kent Police Chief Kenneth Michaud’s desk has a notation, written in red, across the first week of March 2004: “No time off.”

It will be a hectic week for the small-town police force, and Michaud knows it. The town’s population of 4,233 could double if the expected numbers of athletes, coaches, support personnel and spectators associated with the Biathlon World Cup competition are realized.

Along with the daily competitions from Wednesday through Saturday, March 3-6, the town will be abuzz with activities from 8 a.m. to midnight each day.

With any international competition in today’s complex world, security is a major concern. Officials believe the northern Aroostook County venue is prepared to shoulder the responsibility.

Michaud, four full-time police officers and two part-time officers will staff posts 24 hours a day.

Michaud expects assistance from the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Department and the Maine State Police, but he knows much of the work will fall into the hands of his own personnel.

“We need to have someone at the lodge [where the competitions are held] every day until it closes,” Michaud said Friday. “We also need an extra man each night for the spectator tent that will be set up on Main Street.

“We still have our regular work duties,” he said. “The Fire Marshal’s Office has been in town all week, and we’ve heard that other agencies may have been.”

Organizers have said they expect 2,000 to 3,000 spectators each day. Despite high tension in much of the world, organizers say spectators attending the event won’t face any formal security screening, but access to athletes and officials will be kept to a minimum.

George Dumond, logistics chief for the Biathlon World Cup, said the organization has involved customs and immigration people from both sides of the border, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Homeland Security, the FBI, Maine State Police, the Aroostook County Sheriff’s Department and Fort Kent local police in discussions from the outset.

University of Maine at Fort Kent students studying public safety and criminal justice have volunteered to assist with security at the venue. They will staff access points to help with crowd control.

Allen Shoaf, a UMFK instructor who will be in charge of the UMFK detail, said the students are “not peace officers, and will provide access control only.”

“They have been trained by biathlon staff for that kind of work alone,” he said.

“Federal people want to be here just because their response time would be too long from Houlton and Bangor,” Dumond said. “Not being here would make their reaction to anything very slow.”

Dumond stressed that nothing is expected to occur.

“We will provide security as it is deemed necessary,” was all Leon Ives, agent in charge of Homeland Security at Houlton, would say Friday.

Dumond said he brought in immigration and customs people from both sides of the border to take care of possible record checks at border crossings before the actual time of competitions.

The logistics chief said quite a few production and media people will be staying in motels and inns across the border. There will be extensive travel through the ports of entry.

He said they wanted to address visa and background issues early to facilitate crossings.

“We want athletes, VIPs, spectators and everyone just to be safe,” Dumond said Friday morning. “We have looked at all kinds of contingencies, and we hope we have plans for most any possibility.

“We don’t want any incidents, and we don’t believe there will be any incidents,” he said. “We need to control access to areas, and we believe we can do that.”

He reiterated that safety is of the “utmost importance.”

That will include such things as sweeps of the buildings and tent areas at the venue each day before the site opens.