Yesterday …

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(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – July 29, 1994

BANGOR – Tourists sticking to Route 1 miss the real Maine of Palmyra or the Bangor State Fair, and Tim Sample has a solution.

“A lot of folks from away don’t realize that [Maine] is not just Route 1,” said Sample, who will perform at the fair.

Last year admission to the fair was $7 with unlimited rides. This year it is $5 and fair-goers pay separately for food, games and rides.

Among the rides this year is the “giant” roller coaster that Fiesta Shows has imported from Italy. It takes a 12-man crew 18 hours to assemble the 80 tons of steel, all for a 90-second thrill.

The midway this year will feature 31 rides, 14 of them kiddy rides.

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ORONO – Scott Talcove and Jeff Young are working this summer at the Orono Town Office as student interns from the University of Maine Public Administration Department. When they complete their internship in two weeks they will take a wealth of knowledge gained on the job and leave a gift of service to the community.

Town Manager Gerald Kempen said interns in the town office are not new for Orono, given its close proximity to the University of Maine. For many years the town has routinely accepted interns from the public administration department.

“They get course credit,” said the manager, “and we get service.”

Kempen added that this year’s interns “are excellent. They are two of the most capable interns we have ever had. They work independently and well with one another and the municipal employees.”

25 years ago – July 29, 1979

BANGOR – A 23-year-old skydiver with six years of parachuting experience behind him, will take aim on a 20-foot target in the Bass Park oval from a height of more than 2,800 feet, and float into the Family Day festivities.

Bob Lane, a member of the U.S. Parachute Association and the “Jump Maine” Skydivers, makes a minimum of 20 jumps a month, from altitudes as high as 8,000 feet. He’s had only one malfunction to his credit, when his main chute failed to open, but the reserve chute worked perfectly.

Lane emphasizes that the ability of the pilot is the key to any skydiver’s success. He credits his pilot, Brian Taylor, with being “one of the best.”

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BANGOR – The Bangor State Fair opened its 130th year in Bass Park to the sounds of the calliope and show barkers, and the smell of hot buttered popcorn and cotton candy.

There are several notable twists to the fair this year, fair coordinators Thaxter Trafton and Steve Bolduc explained. The most obvious change is that the fair is giving the modern Bangor Civic Center, across the street, the opportunity to show off its new facility by relocating the 4-H exhibits to the center.

The Grandstand Spectacular is an added feature of the fair, never offered in the fair before. Mario Manzini, who holds five world records as an escape artist, will perform. His breath-taking feat will involve his being laced into a hospital straight jacket, hung by the ankles upside down and hoisted 100 feet up by a crane. The escape has an intense time limit: the rope that dangles him will be set afire.

50 years ago – July 29, 1954

ORONO – Maine superintendents of schools opened their 43rd annual conference at the University of Maine with a banquet at the Men’s Cafeteria. Dean Mark Shibles and a panel of summer school faculty members discussed standards for Maine secondary schools.

Shibles emphasized the need for many standards rather than a single standard for all boys and girls.

“Different children need to learn different things under different conditions,” he said, pointing out it would be impossible to set a single standard for children of varying abilities.

“The single most important task in consideration of secondary school standards is a thorough reorganization of the secondary school curriculum,” he explained, “with specific requirements of proficiency in the areas of communication arts, social sciences, science, mathematics and arts. Even if a youth is specializing in vocational subjects, he should have background in these subjects.”

Shibles pointed out the impossibility of carrying out good secondary school programs in some of the especially small high schools and recommended the elimination of these schools and the development of regional high schools.

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BANGOR – An editorial in the Saturday Evening Post titled “U.S. Businessmen Give Foreign Rivals Lessons on How a Free System Works,” by William Best Jr., announces that Saul Silverstein, president of the Rogers Corporation of Connecticut, is so highly regarded by the Belgian government for his work there in business management that he will be given a decoration. Mr. Silverstein married Rebecca Berger of Bangor and they are frequent visitors here.

Mr. Best quotes Mr. Silverstein as saying that these team visits to Belgium are as effective anti-Communist devices as exist. He feels that the bitter opposition which they have engendered on the part of the Communists would back him up.

100 years ago – July 29, 1904

BREWER – The alarm of fire rung in Thursday morning was for a blaze in a small outhouse owned by Walter Snow, 55 Holyoke St. The building was burned to the ground. The damage was approximately $50.

The fire was first discovered by Mrs. Harlow, who lives on State Street, in the rear of the Snow residence. She immediately roused Mr. Snow, who summoned the fire department. Too much headway had been gained and the house was quickly consumed. When the department arrived it was too late as the building was a pile of ashes.

The building was constructed for use as a hen house, but of late Mr. Snow had been storing windows, blinds, etc. within it. All these were destroyed by the fire. A chest of tools was the only thing saved.

Origin of the fire is unknown.

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SOUTH ORRINGTON – South Orrington telephone exchange has been connected with Bangor by a separate toll line, which is appreciated by subscribers, as it will give them much better service.

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SOUTH ORRINGTON – The Rev. J.J. Lewis will entertain the people with fine views (moving pictures) and talks on his extensive travels. The exhibition is said to be first class.

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BANGOR – The steamer Ransom B. Fuller of the Kennebec division of the Eastern Steamship Co. arrived in Bangor yesterday afternoon with a large passenger and freight list. She is taking the place of the steamer City of Rockland on the Bangor division temporarily.

She was saluted all the way from Rockland to Bangor, and from Hampden to Bangor her whistle was going almost continuously. She has a deep chime, melodious and pleasing as a change to the scruff tones of the Bangor and the Rockland.

A big crowd was at the wharf here to greet her, and many persons were on the shore.

The Fuller is a good boat – big, solid, roomy and safe. But compared to the Bangor and the Rockland, she is a heavy woolen mitten to their white kid glove. Her lines are not as fine or as graceful as either of the other two boats. She is chunky and much slower. She is big and high, but she is bleak.

Her furnishings are beautiful and rich, but not set off to the best advantage.

She is a whale and can carry all sorts of freight and meet all sorts of grief in the shape of weather without getting damaged.

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BANGOR – Frederic Peakes, the distinguished proprietor of the Peakes Vocal Studios in Philadelphia offers four scholarships to talented and deserving pupils of Maine. Particulars will be given by Miss Sara Peakes, 14 Coombs St., who will examine the voices of all applicants whom she considers worthy of an opportunity of appearing before Mr. Peakes.

A man occupying a high position in the profession of music and standing in the foremost ranks of the American masters of the vocal art is Frederic Bosworth Peakes. Mr. Peakes is a native of Sherbrooke, Canada. His grandfather was an old-fashioned singing teacher of Maine, the family being of New England origin. There have always been a number of members of his family prominent in the world of music. Henry Peakes, the famous basso, sang the part of Devilshoof in “Bohemian Girl” and “Mephistopheles.”

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin