10 years ago – March 18, 1994

(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

BANGOR – Like crocuses under the melting snow, people are starting to stir from their winter slumber.

The annual ritual of curing cabin fever blues begins this weekend when the Bangor area hosts a number of shows and conventions.

Between the Boy Scouts show at the Bangor Armed Forces Reserve Center, the boat show at the Bangor Auditorium and the sportsmen’s show at the University of Maine, there will be something to do for nearly anyone looking to get out of the house.

“It’s like people are thinking spring,” said Judy Vardarmis, director of the Bangor Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It’s warmed up and they can actually see the snow melting.”

The bureau, she said, has been receiving requests for space and time for everything from a martial arts group to a futon trade association.

“It’s just increased incredibly,” she said. “They’re coming out of the woodwork.”

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BANGOR – March is the month for the state chess tournaments for Maine youths. Two tournaments were held earlier this month and two will take place this week and next at John Bapst Memorial High School.

The Maine State Chess Championships for elementary and junior high pupils were held March 5 at John Bapst. Ninety-seven pupils from around the state participated in the daylong event, which featured four rounds of tournament-rated play in a Swiss system of pairing.

Second-place winner at the elementary level was St. Mary’s School, coached by Steve Wong, with members Chris Bolt, Elizabeth Lucarelli, Stephen Wong and Rodger Wong.

First place winner at the junior high level was Holbrook School coached by Steve Wong, with members Kevin Hudson, Chad Wong, Arthur Baker and David Barkan.

25 years ago – March 18, 1979

BANGOR – Firemen from Bangor and Brewer fought an intense fire early Sunday which extensively damaged a building at 24-28 Central St. A building next door containing the Time Out Restaurant received smoke and water damage.

Fire Chief James McKenzie said six to eight firemen suffered minor injuries fighting the fire, which was reported by a woman passerby.

Assistant Chief Bruce Kigas, one of the first to arrive on the scene, said he could smell the smoke when his trucks got to Freese’s on Main Street. Kigas said the fire had got a good start, “probably several hours,” before it was reported. A foot-square beam in the basement of 24 Central St. had burned through.

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When nurses give seriously ill patients baths in bed, they are doing more than “simply splashing water.”

But many people, including some nurses, think only in terms of the task, rather than the reasons nurses give baths in certain ways or the lessons which nurses pass along to patients about how to move.

Although nursing has always been considered a science, said Donna Sargent, supervisor of community health nurses in Penobscot County, a move is now under way by nurses to put more scientific procedures and terminology into everyday nursing.

The new tools being developed in nursing include “problem-oriented record system” in which all the health professionals involved with a patient record information on the same sheet.

50 years ago – March 18, 1954

BANGOR – A crowd estimated at nearly 1,500 Eastern Maine residents swarmed around 28 sparkling new automobiles at the annual Automobile Show at the Bangor Auditorium.

Under the sponsorship of the Bangor-Brewer Lions Club, the show presented the 1954 models of virtually every American-made automobile. The colorful array of chrome-plated horsepower competed against five top-notch vaudeville acts for the attention of the crowd.

Show officials expressed complete satisfaction with the eager response shown by the hundreds of spectators during the opening day. “The people really seem excited at seeing so many brand new cars at one time,” said one local dealer who spent most of the day answering questions about the latest models and distributing literature.

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BANGOR – Members of the local Kiwanis Club were urged to form a Key Club in the local high schools by Joseph Garland, a former vice president of the Portland Kiwanis Club, and Donald Cutler, president of the Key Club at Deering High School.

Mr. Garland explained that the Portland club was working on the organization of its fourth Key Club. He described a Key Club as a junior Kiwanis Club open to members of the senior, junior and sophomore classes in high school.

He said the objective of the junior club would be the same as those of the parent organization – service and emphasis on the human and spiritual values rather than the material.

Garland said sponsorship of the organization in the schools gives Kiwanis an opportunity for guidance among the youth.

100 years ago – March 18, 1904

BANGOR – The ingenuity shown by the Puritan Clothing Co. is keeping all Greater Bangor guessing and talking about the now quite famous cat-in-the-bag advertising, a sure indication of modern hustling business methods behind the concern.

Today they open an immense stock of clothing in the Prescott building on Central Street. They promise many new ideas. Men’s, youths’, children’s and ladies’ suits are carried.

One of the new – for Bangor – features of this company is that staff will make a specialty of selling their clothing on credit. Any person wishing a suit can get one on easy terms by making a small payment when they get the goods, and pay a dollar a week after until paid for. This is a great advantage to people who do not have the ready money to put into a good suit all at once.

This company, besides showing a fine line of men’s and women’s clothing, is showing an excellent display of spring millinery. They will occupy the entire Prescott block which will give them one of the best stores in the city, and there is no doubt but that they will be successful in their new enterprise.

Among the large force of clerks at the store is Thomas A. Curran, formerly of Curran and Kelly, in charge of the men’s clothing department. Mrs. Mae McDonald has been engaged for the ladies’ garment department.

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BANGOR – “The Great Train Robbery” series of moving pictures proved a thriller in Bangor a short time ago. It is a source of unending wonder how photographs of such drama could have been taken in the wilds of the Rocky Mountains.

The picture play begins with a scene in the lonely telegraph station in which the operator receiving train orders is overcome with the butt of a pistol, bound hand and foot, gagged and left unconscious on the floor by the desperadoes. The film proceeds with the capture of the train; the murder of the fireman; the killing of the express messenger; blowing open the safe; hold-up of all the passengers and shooting of one who attempts to escape; and winds up with a horseback ride through the mountains with the bags of booty; a wild, weird dance in a log cabin; pursuit by the sheriff and posse; and death of all the robbers.

There is an immense amount of shooting. The smoke of the pistols is plainly seen, and men drop dead right and left, but no sound is heard. Nevertheless, while witnessing the exhibition, women in the audience put their fingers in their ears to shut out the noise of the firing! This is pure realism.

More than 5 million persons, it is estimated, have looked at these pictures and many have tried to locate the scenes. Most of the railroads in the Far West have been charged with the hold-up, but if the accusers would only study the flora of the country they would see at a glance that there is nothing at all like it out in the Rockies.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin