We keep hearing that people eager to do Americans harm, such as al-Qaida terrorists, find it ridiculously easy to enter our country because of the lax security on our Mexican and Canadian borders. For those likely to laugh this off as media hype, consider a recent case centering on the U.S.-Canadian border crossing at Calais, Maine.

Last April 25, Gregory Despres arrived at the Maine entry point carrying a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a chain saw stained with what appeared to be blood. United States customs agents, our very own people, confiscated the weapons and fingerprinted Despres. Then, after a brief period of “interrogation,” apparently cursory in nature, they allowed him to enter our country. Perhaps we should be grateful they at least fingerprinted him although there is no evidence that accomplished anything.

The following day, a horrid scene was discovered in the man’s home town of Minto, New Brunswick. The decapitated body of a 74-year-old country musician named Frederick Fulton was discovered on Fulton’s kitchen floor. His common-law wife was found stabbed to death.

Surprise, surprise! Despres was suddenly considered a suspect because of a history of violence between him and his neighbors. He was arrested after police in Massachusetts saw him wandering down a highway. Could he be connected to the murders? Would somebody as weird as Despres looked possibly be involved? You think?

“Nobody asked us to detain him. Being bizarre is not a reason to keep somebody out of this country or lock them up. : We are governed by laws and regulations, and he did not violate any regulations,” said Bill Anthony, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, on why officers on duty allowed Gregory Despres to enter American territory. And, of course, his right to privacy had to be accepted and protected.

But didn’t the man’s openly displayed assembly of tools of mayhem warrant a closer check on his identity? Which supervisors were out to lunch when this happened? Was the B-team in charge? Little wonder there is growing concern about how many terror-bent people are infiltrating our midst because of inefficiency, incompetence and lackadaisical work habits by our border officers and patrols?

For example, if someone carrying anti-American literature and packing one of those old Rasputin-style anarchist pumpkin bombs tries to board an airliner bound for America, it’s probably a good assumption his intentions are not tourism. And along with being stripped of anything that might lead to a hijacking or a terrorist attack, shouldn’t he at least be held for a background check? There are dangers in some “profiling” tactics under homeland security, but when something is as obvious as the aforementioned examples, somebody has to be awake at the switch.

In view of how easy it can be for terrorists to kill and maim these days, it would be well for our border people to batten down the hatches tighter than they are at present. Many would sleep better at night if they could be convinced that the Calais, Maine, fiasco is a major exception rather than indicative of a potentially lethal rule.