Conway residents wonder and worry

CONWAY, N.H. -- An undercurrent of uneasiness ran through this mountain resort town yesterday. As they prepared for holiday parades and picnics, some residents were still visibly shaken by the killings of three people at a local business Monday.

Many tourists who inched into town on traffic-clogged Route 16 were unaware of the shootings at the Army Barracks, a military surplus store, according to volunteers at the Conway Village Area Chamber of Commerce.

But the killings cast a lingering shadow for some local people who barricaded themselves indoors until authorities announced yesterday afternoon that a suspect, Michael L. Woodbury, 31, was in custody.

"It was awful," said Linda Thompson, a stylist at Maggio Hair Studio on Main Street. "We were in here with the doors locked all day."

Monica Colby, another salon employee, said she was outside playing with her children Monday when her boyfriend called to tell her about the shootings.

"I said, 'OK, kids, let's go inside,' " she said. "Someone said to me, 'That's why I moved here from Massachusetts, because these things don't happen here.' "

Home to about 9,000 people and nestled close to the Maine border, Conway is considered the gateway to the White Mountains. Views of the hazy peaks to the west and north are interspersed with stretches of forest.

The scenic setting has attracted an influx of residents from more urban places. Several former Massachusetts residents said they were less shocked by the shootings than many New Hampshire natives were.

"When somebody cracks, they can crack anywhere, in Wichita, Kan., or Conway, N.H.," said Joe Quirk, a Hingham native who moved to Conway 30 years ago and now owns the Conway Café and Majestic Theatre.

Jeania Meeks, who moved from Boston to Conway five years ago, said that despite the advice of friends who urged her to get a ride from police, she walked home from work Monday while the shooter was still at large.

"I'm so used to Boston; this is like nothing," she said. "I used to take the T at 2 in the morning."

Washing clothes at the Acorn Laundromat yesterday, Kathy Aulich said she would have chased the shooter if she had seen him.

"People are too willing to shake their heads and say, 'What is going on in this world,' instead of doing something," she said. "The only thing that scares me is poison ivy."

A few miles from Conway, in Fryeburg, Maine, where the suspect was being held yesterday, a crowd of several-dozen people waited for news outside the police station.

One woman who works at a campground near where the shooting occurred said campers were terrified to go to sleep Monday night.