Yesterday …

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(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – April 15, 1994

BANGOR – In his ongoing attempt to communicate with school kids, Bangor Police Officer Dan Frazell is turning to the airwaves with a radio program called “D.A.R.E. on the Air.”

The hour-long program will be heard once a week on WHSN 89.3 FM and will consist of music, giveaways and chitchat between Frazell and his guest of the week, who will be a middle school student and D.A.R.E. graduate.

Frazell and his first guest, Bonnie McLaughlin from Fifth Street Middle School in Bangor, will put on their earphones to play some music and discuss drugs and other teen concerns.

Frazell, a lover of rock ‘n’ roll music, said the theory that coupled rock music with drugs was inaccurate.

“I suppose they can go together if you want them to, but I’m drug-free and I love to listen to music,” he said. “I see music as an alternative to drugs for kids.”

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BANGOR – As busy as members of the Bangor Parks and Recreation Department have been preparing for the 28th Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race, workers at WLBZ-TV, Channel 2 in Bangor, also are gearing up for a hectic Saturday.

That’s because WLBZ and WCSH-TV Portland will televise part of the race for the 10th consecutive year.

Although WLBZ’s coverage will not start until 11:30 a.m., station new promotion director Ed Bogle will be at Six-Mile Falls bright and early – at 4:40 a.m.

Why so early? Bogle has to organize two live news trucks, a mobile TV production room, a mountain of equipment and 42 crew members before they go on the air.

25 years ago – April 15, 1979

BANGOR – Probably no one in Maine is more concerned about the future of New York City’s Radio City Music Hall than Vickie Daigle of Bangor.

At the age of 21, the Bangor native shared the music hall stage with 35 other leggy performers as a member of the high-kicking Rockettes. For a year from 1968 to 1969, she did the precision kicks and perfectly timed moves that have characterized the Rockettes for 45 years at the Art Deco theater.

Actually, the famed hall was home to two other Bangor women, both Rockettes before Miss Daigle. Jane Simpson, now Jane Wallace, joined the group in 1964 and stayed for three years. She now works in the office of Dr. John Mabee, Bangor. Before her, Sandra Kelley was one of the performers. She is employed by W.C. Bryant Jewelers, Bangor. All three women studied under dancer Polly Thomas of Bangor.

Miss Daigle has very fond memories of her stint as a Rockette. Despite their sequins and feathers, the Rockettes are not your “typical chorus girls,” she remarked. Backstage, many were housewives and mothers, and it was not uncommon to see them knitting and sewing while they waited to go on stage.

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ORONO – Estelle Ramey has a lot to say when anyone so much as implies that a woman is weak and vulnerable and can’t do a job traditionally held by a man.

In fact, said the outspoken endocrinologist, women are stronger in many ways. They not only outlive men, but they aren’t prone to the heart attacks, high blood pressure and many stress-induced illnesses that strike men.

“Women are as strong as horses,” she quipped, because they have the right hormones to help them tolerate more stress than men.

It was a remark about hormones that sparked Dr. Ramey’s active involvement in the feminist movement. An aide to the late Sen. Hubert Humphrey was quoted as saying that “because of raging hormones, women are unfit to hold public office.”

Dr. Ramey, a professor of physiology and biophysics at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., was at the University of Maine to deliver the keynote address at a Career Development Conference for Academic Women.

50 years ago – April 15, 1954

BREWER – Approximately 65 parents of first-, second- and third-grade children met at the Brewer High School auditorium for the purpose of being indoctrinated concerning the coming polio vaccine trials in which their children, at the request of the parents, will be permitted to participate.

Albert E. Pillsbury presided. He explained why this particular area has been selected for this test, pointing out two reasons; one, that the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis wanted an area containing no less than 50,000 and no more than 250,000 people; and second, an area that had a late incidence of polio last year. This area met both requirements.

William Carney, Bangor city health officer and area chairman for the vaccine trials, discussed the purpose of the trials and of the meeting. He gave a talk in conjunction with a film strip, “Polio Vaccine Tests.”

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OLD TOWN – Career Day will be observed by Old Town High School this week. Speakers and their subjects are: Social work, Miss Lena Kelly, Child Welfare Bureau, Ellsworth; pilot, Kenneth Dewitt, president of Central Maine Flying Service, Old Town; nursing, Miss Mabel F. Booth, director of nursing, Eastern Maine General Hospital, Bangor; secretary, William Curran, Husson College, Bangor; homemaker, Mrs. MacKellar, assistant professor of home economics, University of Maine; chemistry, welding, and physics, Wilfred DeShane, Old Town Body Shop; journalism, Elmer S. Ingalls, state editor, Bangor Daily News.

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BANGOR – Dr. Howard Kominsky, Bangor dentist, told members of the Lions Club that fluoridation of a city’s water supply will reduce tooth decay in children 35 to 60 percent.

Dr. Kominsky, who explained the advantages of the process to the Lions, illustrated his point with a film, “A Drop in the Bucket.”

The speaker said that one part fluorine to 1 million parts water will have no harmful effects on people, but will prevent cavities to a large extent.

At the open meeting of the club which preceded Dr. Kominsky’s talk, Richard Bronson of Veazie and Armand S. Andrle of Brewer were accepted into the organization.

King Lion Gordon E. Kelley presented the new members with pins.

100 years ago – April 15, 1904

BANGOR – The annual exhibition drill and ball of the cadet battalion of Bangor High School will be held in City Hall and indications point to a most enjoyable affair. The battalion has attained high efficiency and ought to give a most creditable performance. Music for dancing will be furnished by Pullen’s Orchestra.

The first two rows of the gallery have been reserved for the mayor, members of the city council, teachers of the high school and their friends. The commissioned officers of the University of Maine battalion will occupy the seats on the floor.

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BANGOR – Manager Fred A. Colby of the taxidermist department for the S.L. Crosby Co. on Exchange Street received an order Thursday from Edward C. Swett of Portland, who has charge of the Maine exhibit at the St. Louis, Mo., world’s fair, for a carload of mounted specimens to be shipped to C.W.E. Cobb, State of Maine building, St. Louis Exposition.

Among the many specimens, which are to be sent and which were packed Thursday, is a mounted caribou. The remainder will consist of moose, bear, deer and caribou heads, about 75 in number; many large fish, both trout and salmon; rugs, game birds and small animals.

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SOUTH ORRINGTON – A very welcome sound is the whistle of the Gifford saw mill each morning, noon and night. The mill started up Monday and is now doing a good business. The ice is out of the mill creek and the wharf is clear so that vessels can load wood of which there is quite a large amount to be shipped.

Capt. William Quinn is putting his schooner, the Corinna M., in readiness for the season’s work of bay coasting,

The frost is coming out rapidly in spite of the prevailing cold weather, and many farmers say that they will plant peas next week. The ground was froze hard here Wednesday night.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin