Much has been done since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to improve security at customs and border facilities in Maine, according to Ted Woo of Boston, chief public affairs officer for Customs and Border Protection.

“We have basically pushed our borders to address these threats,” Woo said Monday.

Since Sept. 11, border and customs stations such as the one in Jackman have more staff and the staffs have been equipped with sophisticated, nonintrusive equipment that can detect radiation, Woo said. Employees at the station have sensitive radiation devices attached to their belts. These devices are a little larger than a pack of cigarettes, he said.

In addition, these stations have the use of a mobile X-ray truck to inspect the contents of containers for radiation, he said.

At seaport facilities, radiation monitors now in place scan the contents of containers before they are shipped, according to Woo.

“Every day since 9-11 our focus has been on preventing terrorists from getting into the United States and we don’t ease up on that focus,” Woo said.

“Because of custom and border protection we are a safer nation and we will continue to protect our borders with vigilance, integrity and professionalism,” Woo said. (Diana Bowley, BDN)

Maine’s northern border with Canada is sparsely populated with miles of forests and rivers between border crossings.

Bruce Marquis, owner and operator of Robinson Lumber, lives smack on the border, the international boundary running right through his driveway.

“I had to get permission from the federal government to re-pave my driveway,” he said.

Depending on the week, Marquis crosses in and out of Quebec at St. Pamphile up to 50 times at all hours of the day and night.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, he has seen more reliance on electronic systems to monitor such activity in remote areas lacking 24-hour border agent coverage.

“For people like me who live up here and cross back and forth a lot, we have ID cards we can swipe at the gate,” Marquis said. “A phone rings in Houlton and I can talk to an agent. There are all kinds of cameras there watching me.”

The gate dividing the U.S. and Canada can be operated remotely from Houlton, Marquis said.

Some nights after bad electrical storms, the system can go off-line, Marquis said. An option then is to wake up the off-duty customs agent living nearby who can open the gate.

The crossing at St. Pamphile is staffed from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. This, too, is a change since Sept. 11, 2001. Before that date, Marquis said, the agent was off-duty at 2 p.m. during the week and 4 p.m. Saturdays.

Don and Ethel Lozier know all about cross-border travel.

In 2001 the couple moved from Fort Kent to St. Francoise, New Brunswick, but maintained their privately owned businesses in Fort Kent. The Loziers cross back and forth at least once a day during the workweek.

“Before 9-11 I probably opened my trunk [for inspection] twice,” Don Lozier said. “Now I open it up a lot more and they look in my vehicle windows, and every once in a while there is a dog.”

Don Lozier is a U.S. citizen. Ethel Lozier was born in Canada and is a naturalized citizen of the U.S.

For the Loziers, the biggest change in traveling across the border is the need to display proper identification, but that, Don Lozier said, can depend on who’s working when they cross.

“The agents who have been here awhile all know us,” Don Lozier said. “This morning Ethel was asked for her identification and had not been for about a month.” (Julia Bayly, Special to the NEWS)

Heightened security has become part of the way life is Down East since Sept. 11, 2001. Customs officers have stepped up questioning and identification procedures, and the waits at the Calais-St. Stephen, New Brunswick, bridges are noticeably longer.

Ted Woo of U.S. Customs and Border Protection said last week that during the high traffic times there have been long lines. “The wait times are due to a lot of different factors. Some of them are the good Canadian dollar [and] people are traveling more.” He said the agency is constantly monitoring wait times.

One of the longest waits in Canada took place last month in St. Stephen as people waited 11/4 hours to cross the border into Calais, a Canadian newspaper in New Brunswick reported.

St. Stephen Town Manager Hendrik Slegtenhorst said last week that business leaders there are worried that because of the wait times American consumers no longer are in the mood to shop in St. Stephen, and Mayor Allen Gillmor, a native of New Brunswick, said he was concerned about what the restrictions were doing to the two communities.

“I think of Calais and St. Stephen as one community – two halves of the same circle,” Gillmor said. “Gradually that circle is breaking apart because of the bridge. We are less likely to cross the border to visit our friends and neighbors.

“I see the borders between Canada and the United States, which have always been open, closing up more and more, whereas you look at Europe, it is wide open,” he said.

“I just hope that the flow of people and goods will continue as it has for the past 100 years.” (Diana Graettinger, BDN)