Proposed passport requirement irks Mainers

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CALAIS – Down Easters who cross the border to play bingo think the new rules that will require Americans to have passports in three years is a “pain in the neck.”

But Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was interviewed Tuesday by The Associated Press, said she believes passports are needed to keep “people who want to come in to hurt us” out of the country.

When the new rule is adopted, Americans will need passports to re-enter the United States from Canada, Mexico, Panama and Bermuda by 2008, part of a tightening of U.S. border controls in an era of terrorist threat, administration officials said.

Canadians also will have to pony up with official documentation if they want to come into the states.

The new rule received mixed reviews in Calais, which shares two border crossings with St. Stephen, New Brunswick: the downtown Ferry Point Bridge and the Milltown crossing, north of the city’s downtown area. In a few short years a third bridge is expected to be built.

“I go over once a week [to play bingo], in the summertime more often, but there are a lot of people who go over three or four times a week,” Calais City Clerk Theresa Porter said. “It’s going to be a pain.”

Porter said she believes there should be some kind of break for local people who visit family and friends and shop the border stores.

While Porter is thinking about disruption to her fun, City Manager Linda Pagels is concerned how the changes will affect the city’s economy because for decades the two communities have considered the border nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

“Calais and St. Stephen … are considered two halves of one community,” Pagels said upon hearing the news.

Pagels worries that Canadians will be less inclined to zip across the border once the new rules go into effect.

“The Canadian dollar is worth more now than it has been for a while, and if you look at the larger parking lots like Marden’s [Discount Store] and Wal-Mart, you see quite a few Canadian plates,” she said.

“I’m sure we’ll get through it as a community, but I think it is more of an emotional issue of having to show a piece of paper or getting a passport.”

The city manager said Rice did not consult with her before announcing the proposed changes. “As usual we are practically the last to know,” she said with a laugh. “I’m sure she was busy.”

And what about the proposed third bridge?

Plans call for a fast lane that would allow preapproved Americans and Canadians to enter the country without having to stop at customs, similar to an E-ZPass popular with travelers on the Maine Turnpike.

“Developing a third bridge which is going to be state of the art that speeds up the ability to cross, everything is electronic eyes and X-rays and whatnot, and we’re going back to paper passports?” Pagels questioned.

Mother and daughter Nancy Gillis and Allyson Parks said the change will have an impact. Parks said she already had a passport and was not concerned about the change, but Gillis wondered how many area residents could afford the $100 fee.

“I guess I will be getting one. I do go over to St. Stephen frequently to see my daughter and grandchildren, probably two times a day,” she said. “I have mixed feelings. I remember 9-11. … I understand why there’s a need for it, but I do believe it’s going to be a hardship for some people, though.”

Farther north the change in border crossing protocol was not welcomed with open arms.

“It’s ridiculous,” Jean Pedneault, a reporter for a twice-weekly French newspaper in Edmundston, New Brunswick, nearly a sister city to Madawaska in Maine, said Tuesday afternoon. “I go to Madawaska five or six times a week.

“I had a passport when I was younger, but I no longer have one, and I don’t think I will get one,” he said. “This will create more barriers between Canadians and Americans.

“This will cut down on Canadians going to Maine, whether it’s to get gas or to visit,” he said. “Canadian tourists in the U.S. could become a thing of the past.”

After 9-11, security at the borders was tightened and Americans and Canadians who regularly cross to shop or visit family and friends were required to show a valid driver’s license.

Porter, who sees birth certificates in her capacity as city clerk, wondered what impact the changes would have on babies rushed to Calais Regional Hospital because the hospital in St. Stephen no longer handles those types of cases.

Now Canadian women travel an hour to Saint John to have their babies, but in the event of an emergency they often end up at the hospital in Calais. “If you don’t have a passport can you come over and have your baby?” she asked.

Calais residents also wonder how the new rule will affect the two fire departments. As a result of mutual aid agreements, the St. Stephen Fire Department responds just as quickly to a structure fire as the city’s firetrucks.

Some officials wonder if the Canadian firetrucks will have to stop at the border so everyone on board can show their passports.

Tuesday it was business as usual at the border.

Ryan Best of St. Stephen thought the new rule “sucked.” He said he did not have a passport. “I’m going to have to get one.”

St. Andrews resident Tanya Anderson didn’t like the idea. “I come over to just get gas and milk. I really don’t do any other extensive traveling, so I think it’s kind of ridiculous. It’s really going to affect those who live locally near the borders,” she said. “I think that’s crazy.

Bob Philips of St. Stephen likes to shop at Marden’s. “It’s pretty near impossible [to get a Canadian passport]. You’d end up having to go to Fredericton to get something,” he said. Fredericton is nearly two hours away.

But Princeton resident Ernest Carle said he thought the change was a good idea. “I put a little faith in the government. If they say it’s necessary, I agree with them,” he said.

The Department of Homeland Security said there will be a comment period. For more information go to the agency Web sites at: www.dhs.gov or www.travel.state.gov.

BDN reporter Beurmond Banville contributed to this story.