10 years ago – Jan. 8, 1994

(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

BANGOR – A 21-pound beagle has become the first line of defense against the importation of destructive insects or disease from overseas through Bangor International Airport.

Brandy was on duty last week snuffling the luggage, carry-on bags and purses of passengers from two charter flights from England that stopped in Bangor en route to Florida.

“Find it, girl,” commanded David Burgason, Brandy’s handler and one of the five people with the U.S. Department of Agriculture assigned to protect American plants and animals from pests from other continents.

The perky pup, wearing a green coat identifying her as a member of “Agriculture’s Beagle Brigade,” seemed to give just a cursory sniff to a row of suitcases. Her sense of smell is 1,000 times keener than a human’s, Burgason explained.

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HOLDEN – Ned Jennings presented the planning board with a sketch of a plan of improvements and expansions he would like to make at his Granville Lumber site.

Planning board Chairman Allan Bromley said Jennings, who owns Granville Lumber Co. and the Granville Rental Station, has some long-range plans for other buildings on the site. He would like to build a document storage facility and another building that he called a showcase for retail sales and trades related to the building industry.

25 years ago – Jan. 8, 1979

BANGOR – A Bangor man will be singled out for honors at the annual meeting of the Pro- Life Education Association in Portland.

Gerald Thibodeau will be honored “for his leadership, dedication and courage in the pro-life field,” according to an announcement from Deane S. Stevens, awards chairman for the organization.

Thibodeau, a certified public accountant, is a native of Presque Isle. His nonprofessional activities include director of St. Michael’s Home for Boys and St. Andre’s Home for Girls; president of St. John’s Catholic Church Parish Council at Bangor; chairman of Pine Cone Council, Knights of Columbus, pro-life committee; and past president of Catholic District Deanery IV for southern Penobscot County.

He and his wife Pilar are parents of three daughters and one son.

When President Jimmy Carter held a town meeting in Bangor last winter, it was Thibodeau who raised a right-to-life question to the chief executive, which was carried nationwide over the television network.

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For the first time in its history, the Bangor-Brewer YWCA will own and operate its own residential camp. The newly acquired camp is on Chemo Pond and was formerly known as Camp Baldy.

According to Mary Dyer, executive director of the YWCA, the agency has had a resident camping program since 1926, but it was always on sites leased from other organizations. Different sites were used until 1939 when Camp Tanglewood in Camden was leased. In 1974, the Tanglewood program was discontinued and the search for a new camping area had been going on since then, she said.

The Chemo complex became available last summer and will provide lodging for about 30 boys and girls of elementary school age.

Renamed Camp Yawaca by Virginia Pierce, a member of the YWCA, the resident camping program will provide education in outdoor living.

50 years ago – Jan 8, 1954

BREWER – Albert E. Pillsbury, superintendent of Brewer schools, has announced the appointment of Mrs. Elizabeth Giard as publicity coordinator of the Brewer public schools. Mrs. Giard, who is instructor of speech at Brewer High School, will contact the principals and teachers of the schools and gather news items for the local papers.

During Christmas vacation a new intercommunication system was installed in all the classrooms, gyms and shops at Brewer High School. The system is operated by master controls in the principal’s office. By pressing various buttons, Mr. Leighton is able to speak to any one room or combination of rooms. School announcements, telephone messages and other communications will be given over the speaking system. Funds for this new system were provided by the surplus of non-athletic activities, such as magazine drives and the school store, earned by students over a period of years.

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BANGOR – “You can’t practice democracy without an educated politic body,” Don Bolt, an authority on Latin America, told members of the Executives’ Club. Speaking at the Bangor House, Mr. Bolt explained that this is one of the primary differences between the republics of Latin America and democracy as we know it in this country. There are more people in Latin America who can’t read and write than those who can, he explained.

Mr. Bolt, newspaperman, commentator, author and soldier of fortune, gave his audience an interesting picture of Latin America. He emphasized throughout his talk the difference between the peoples of North and South America. The difference, he said, was largely due to heredity – the former being settled by Europeans and British and South America by the Spanish and Portuguese.