DERBY LINE, Vt. — For decades, the towns of Derby Line and Stanstead, Quebec, have functioned as one community.
Located on either side of the border, they share a sewer system, emergency services, snowplowing duties and the border-straddling Haskell Free Library and Opera House, where a black line across the hardwood floor marks the international border.
Work began Thursday, though, to erect a pair of 5-foot-tall steel gates across two previously unguarded residential streets — a project that is dividing the towns physically but uniting them in displeasure.
Border authorities call the gates a necessary evil to stem smuggling and illegal immigrant crossings. Locals say there is enough security — surveillance cameras and patrols by U.S. Customs and Border Protection — as it is.
“I’ve always considered Derby and Stanstead like brother and sister,” said Mary O’Donnell, 57, of Stanstead, walking into the library to use a computer Friday. “We’ve always been on friendly terms. Now, suddenly, 9/11 hits and everybody in the U.S. freaks out.”
The remote-controlled steel gates, which are in the process of being installed, will open for emergency vehicles, border agents and snow plows, but they will cut off automotive access.
The psychological impact of tightened security bothers some. “We really don’t consider the border a border,” said drugstore owner Roland Roy, who sits on the three-member board of trustees for the village of Derby Line. “We consider the village as all one. These gates split the community.”
