(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – July 15, 1994

ORLAND – On Thursday morning, 84-year-old Stuart Gross hiked up Great Pond Mountain, as he has done about 30 times since April.

When the retired professor’s wife died unexpectedly in 1988, he sometimes climbed up twice daily, looking for the solace only the mostly wild 1,000-foot mountain and its vistas can provide.

The trail to the unusually broad mountaintop is lined at various points with granite ledge, wildflowers and mixed, sloping forest. A well-kept secret, the mountain is used primarily by local people for hikes and picnics.

“The panoramic view compares very favorably with any such scenic expanse anywhere in the world,” said Gross, a former University of Maine Spanish professor, who has seen much of Europe and Asia and has climbed the Himalayas.

For more than 40 years, the Orland native has hoped to protect the mountain from misuse and development. Now, with 140 supporters at his side, those high hopes may yet be achieved.

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BANGOR – It was better than buttah.

It was an experience that would have made anyone “verklempt” with emotion.

Talk amongst yourselves: Here, I’ll give you a topic – Barbara Streisand’s performance at Madison Square Garden on July 10.

One Maine man is still talking about it.

“I was nine feet from the lady,” gasped John Thomas of Bangor. “That was the most incredible experience of my life.”

It was a night worthy of the Brooklyn-born diva whose concerts are selling out within the first hour of ticket sales, as the 19,000 tickets for the July 10 show did.

“I had better seats than Kathy Lee and Regis,” laughed Thomas, who sat in the fifth seat of the first row. “I’ll never see another concert like it.”

25 years ago – July 15, 1979

ORONO – Through efforts of local craftsmen, a craft show and art exhibit has been arranged for the waiting room at Orono’s new Family Medical Center on Main Street.

Exhibiting in the show are Mrs. Edward Merrill, crewel embroidery; Mrs. John Lyman, India ink drawing; Mrs. Alice Voelker, painting of Schoodic; Patti Gonyar, painting; Natalie Benoit, painting; Stephen Valleau, carving, Heidi Suletzki, pottery; Mary Dickey, decoupage and cross stitch; Anne Mawhinney, silk screen prints; Allen Merrill, metal sculpture; Hattie Modr, country painting on tin; and Hope Martin, string art.

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ORONO – For all the sound and fury surrounding the issue of sex education in Maine schools in recent years, it’s evident that accurate information, a coherent value system and a sense of self-assurance are still hard to come by for many young people trying to deal with their newfound sexuality.

Fact: This year 250 freshman at Orono turned up to apply for a basic course on human sexuality.

Fact: In 1977, about 5,000 teenage girls in Maine became pregnant. Almost one-third of 2,700 out-of-wedlock births were to girls under age 16.

Why, if so many sex education courses have been started in so many schools, is there such an apparently large information gap? Why is teenage pregnancy increasing at an alarming rate nationwide?

50 years ago – July 15, 1954

BANGOR – Circus day has finally arrived. The first trucks started arriving in Bangor from Waterville late Wednesday night and continued rolling into the city until around 5 a.m.

The circus folks’ call for setting up is slated for 7 a.m. and the “big top” for the show should go up sometime between 8 and 9:30 a.m. at Bass Park.

After the colorful equipment – which is part and parcel of the show – is unloaded and distributed around the park, the big top will be put up and the circus personnel will prepare for the parade.

The real old fashioned circus parade will include scores of mounted “spangleland” stars, an old steam calliope, open cages of wild beasts, tableaux wagons, clown carts and all the stars that put the show on under the big top. The circus also includes a two-ton hippopotamus and 15 ponderous elephants.

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OLD TOWN – Attendance for the past week on the city playgrounds has amounted to 2,976, which is an increase of more than 800 over the last week, John Barker, director, announced.

The Jefferson Street playground will be closed during the afternoons, Barker said, due to the fact that the wading pools are attracting the majority of the children.

Work has been completed on the Treat and Webster Island playground. Grounds have been cleaned and posts erected for volleyball. Swings have been repaired and moved nearer the pool.

100 years ago – July 15, 1904

BANGOR – Salmon fishing at the Bangor pool ends today. The season has been about an average one, better than last year but not so good as 1902, when 120 fish were landed. Since the first of July little fishing has been done owing to the pitch of water. Before that time, however, boats were out every day.

There have been few foreign fishermen here this year. E.A. Buck and C.A. Hodgkins have both caught about a dozen and lead the list.

The only man from away who has succeeded in doing anything is P. McCarthy of Lawrence, Mass. He fished until July 1 and had caught three.

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HAMPDEN – One of the best shows ever given at Riverside Park [Ed. note: Riverside Park was located near the present-day site of Avalon Village on Route 1A in Hampden] and a perfect night drew nearly 2,800 people to the performance of Johnny on the Spot. The cars fairly swarmed with folks trying to reach the park in time to see the performance.

Mr. Wyckoff sang “I Never Had Such a Time in All My Life,” over and over again, and when he was exhausted the crowd was still clapping for more. One of the best features of the show is the piano playing of Miss Gertrude M. Hall.

Johnny on the Spot will appear at the park for the remainder of the week, and any person subject to the blues will find it well worth his while to take the trip.

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BUCKSPORT – The steamer Merryconeag will give excursion rates to Camden and return in order to give the chance to see the launching of the five-masted schooner, Margaret Haskell. The steamer will leave Bucksport at her usual time. Fare for the round trip is 50 cents. Tickets are for sale on the wharf, W.R. Ladd, agent.

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SOUTH BREWER – By defeating the strong Lowell and Engel’s baseball team of Hampden, Ayer’s sawmill baseball team is now the champion of the Sunset league. The Hampden team invaded South Brewer with the intention of winning what was expected to be the hottest game of the season.

Frank Rogan, the well-known Bangor High School athlete, was in the box and Lin Hardy backstopped. In the first inning with two hits, a wild throw and a number of bad errors, the lumbermen of South Brewer succeeded in scoring two runs.

The local team played a star game while the work of the Hampden boys at times was ragged.