YESTERDAY …

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(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – Aug. 26, 1994

ORONO – From simulating the orbits and gravity of planets to plotting the speed of a thrown baseball, the Micro Physics Co. of Orono has introduced a computer product aimed at giving students experience in using mathematics and physics.

Called PowerGraph, the product is part computer and part computer hardware that, when combined, offers students the ability to plot algebraic equations, perform simulations, and use data from accessories such as temperature, force and angle gauges.

Released this summer, PowerGraph was tried out by high school students at the University of Maine as part of a three-week Upward Bound program. The students were asked to simulate a comet hitting Jupiter and to find out how to prevent the comet’s impact.

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ORONO – Without the First Amendment, America would not be much different from North Korea. Yet some American journalists and their audiences are complacent about the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Paul McMasters is on the road to change that. He was in Orono spreading the First Amendment gospel.

“It insults me that you spend so much time worrying about what you can and cannot say,” McMasters told a group of journalism advisers gathered at the University of Maine. “This is America, isn’t it?”

McMasters, the president of the Society of Professional Journalists and The Freedom Forum First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University, came to speak to teachers and professors who act as advisers to student publications.

Maine was stop No. 49 on McMasters’ tour of all 50 states.

25 years ago – Aug. 26, 1979

BANGOR – Nearly 100 persons, most of them area policemen and friends, gathered at Bangor Police Department Headquarters on Court Street to honor Phillip F. Jameson, who is retiring from the Bangor department after 25 years as a dispatcher.

Jameson, 58, and who in his youth was considered an outstanding basketball and baseball player for Bangor High School and went on to play semi-professionally in the Bangor area, said he plans to spend three or four months in West Palm Beach, Fla., this winter playing golf.

Jameson, who joined the Bangor department on Aug. 24, 1954, asked everyone to line up for coffee and doughnuts.

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ORONO – The groups of fascinated spectators milling around while he was hanging the show convinced Vincent Hartgen that the collection of gravestone rubbings now mounted in the Photo Salon of the Memorial Union will be extremely popular. The exhibit is called “Symbols of Transformation.”

Apart from a single entry from the collection of Eugenia Witham, a longtime enthusiast from Brewer, the rubbings have been done by Dr. Earl Booth, a professor of English at Bangor Community College. A native of Connecticut, Booth has diligently ferreted out interesting gravestones all over New England to help preserve what he calls “America’s first folk art.”

As he roamed between ancient churchyards, Booth applied rice paper to the stones he wished to copy, then used a lumberman’s crayon to bring out the images and the lettering. To make certain texts fit, some of the stone craftsmen – many of them itinerant – would misspell on purpose and either eliminate or add figures to achieve a proper balance.

“The Puritans were single-minded in their desire to know how to achieve their goal of heaven,” Booth said. “We’re fortunate that the stone carvers were not professionals since we have a great variety of ideas and themes stemming from their fecund originality. The carvers often were masons, woodcutters, carpenters and bricklayers.”

50 years ago – Aug. 26, 1954

BANGOR – About 500 boys and girls from Bangor’s playgrounds romped and raced around Broadway Park, and indulged in blueberry pie eating contests at the Field Day which marked the final week of the recreation department’s summer program.

The sun was hot all day, and more than one tired youngster with a sunburn meandered home shortly after 4 p.m. Four events were run by members of the department’s summer staff – archery in one corner, horseshoe pitching in another, checkers under the shade trees and races on the West side of the park.

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BANGOR – High school curricula today are based on the premise that every child in the country has a right to a high school education, Roland J. Carpenter, superintendent of schools, told members of the Bangor Kiwanis.

And, he went on, while this means that the curricula must be broadened to fill the needs of all, it does not mean that the standards have been lowered.

Giving an up-to-date report on Bangor’s school system, Carpenter explained that this city’s attitude toward expansion of the physical layout of the schools is based on a long-range plan.

The superintendent cited buildings constructed since 1947 – Fairmount, Vine Street and the new East Side School.

Where in 1943, a teacher received a maximum of $1,650 or $2,100 a year, depending on whether the instructor was a woman or a man, today teachers are paid $3,900 a year.

100 years ago – Aug. 26, 1904

BANGOR – Mrs. H.A. Wentworth, city missionary, still continues the good work of taking destitute children to Riverside [the park in Hampden]. She made the third trip of the season yesterday afternoon, there being 51 in the party. A bushel of peanuts was taken along to pass the time away.

There were several who had never been on a trolley before, and many who rarely left the city to get a breath of country air. Mrs. Wentworth picked out the poorest of the poor – those who couldn’t raise a car fare to Hampden to save themselves. One more party will be taken this coming week.

“You can’t say too much about the generosity of the Public Works Company. We couldn’t give all this without its help,” said Mrs. Wentworth. “I am never so happy as when I’m taking children out.”

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BANGOR – Our esteemed fellow townsman, Mr. Michael J. Connelly, was robbed of a large picture of the late President George Washington, which he was wearing on his bosom yesterday. Some miscreant engaged the popular cobbler in conversation and while his attention was occupied appropriated the likeness. Mr. Connelly informed the reporters at noon that a United States detective was on the track of the thief.

Mr. Connelly also has a new cane. It is made of brass and lead piping. He says it is an electric cane, carrying 70,000 volts to the mile. He charges it from any wire that he happens to be near, and occasionally from the heat of an argument. It is a heavy cane, and if it ever lands, some doctor will have a job.

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HAMPDEN – The Whirlwind Entertainers at Riverside this week continue to attract good-sized audiences. The bill contains some excellent vaudeville specialties. Fred Stuber’s banjo-playing is proving to be one of the most popular acts seen on any stage in the city for a long time. The weather for the first half of the week has been ideal.

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BANGOR – Hereafter the yard employees of the Pullman Company at the western station will wear uniforms. Orders to this effect recently have been promulgated from the central offices and went into effect Wednesday. The uniform consists of blue overalls and jumper.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin