Richard Albert says he has gone to church in Quebec for most of his life.

TOWNSHIP 15 RANGE 15 (AP) – A resident in this remote northern Maine outpost along the Quebec border says he is being fined $10,000 for doing something he has done most his life: Going to church.

Richard Albert, 52, said the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection recently notified him that he faces two $5,000 fines for twice crossing from Quebec into Maine on a Sunday when the local border crossing station is closed.

Albert’s home is 30 yards on the Maine side of the border, right beside the U.S. Customs office. But the church is on the Canadian side of the border, which means he has to cross the boundary illegally to attend church services.

Albert, a U.S. citizen, said he has been crossing the U.S.-Canada border at his own discretion for more than 40 years. But border security has been tightened since last May when the Bureau of Customs eliminated its Form 1 program.

That program allowed preapproved people to cross the border when certain border stations – including the one between Township 15 and St. Pamphile, Quebec – were closed.

“It was never an issue to cross before May 1, 2003, when they put a gate on the boundary and locked it up,” Albert said. “This situation, it’s like having a nightmare, and you feel that Big Brother is really controlling you and you can do nothing about it.”

A customs bureau spokeswoman said she could not comment on specific cases, but said people may be penalized when they attempt to cross the border at a closed crossing or where no bureau facilities exist.

Entry without inspection carries a $5,000 penalty, and subsequent offenses may carry fines of up to $10,000, said spokeswoman Janet Rapaport.

The elimination of the Form 1 program creates problems for the dozen or so people who live in this settlement. That’s because the stores, churches, medical facility and other amenities – not to mention family and friends – live across the border in Quebec.

The U.S. border station is open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays, and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. To legally cross from Quebec into Maine at other times, motorists would have to travel 200 miles through Fort Kent and over dirt logging roads to get to their homes.

On a Sunday in January, Albert went into St. Pamphile to baby-sit his niece and then attend church. He had no trouble entering Canada because he and other U.S. residents have special passes from the Canadian government that allow them to enter when border stations are closed.

But U.S. law forbids crossing back into the United States when the U.S. border station is closed. Albert said he received a penalty notice in the mail last week saying no final decision had been made about his fines. He expects to hear in the next 60 days how much, if anything, he will have to pay.

Albert, who works for Robinson Lumber Co. on the Maine side of the border, hasn’t attended church for the past three weeks. He said it’s impossible for him to visit family and friends in Quebec as he has in years he has lived here.

“We’re supposed to stay here and not move? There’s nothing here on the American side,” Albert said. “We feel like we’re being treated like animals here, At 9 p.m. we’re locked in the barns, and at 6 a.m. we’re let out to pasture.”

When the Form 1 program was eliminated last year, local residents appealed to the office of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, for help.

The senator’s office has been seeking a solution and is concerned about Albert’s fines, said Collins’ spokeswoman Jen Burita.

“She was hoping the situation wouldn’t come to this,” Burita said.

AP-ES-02-08-04 1213EST