(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – Jan 6, 1995

BREWER – Traffic was backed up from Washington Street in Bangor across the old iron bridge to State Street in Brewer and along North Main Street because of the throng of shoppers heading for the opening of the new J.J. Newberry store at the North Brewer Shopping Center.

Outside the main entrance, lines spread the length of the building as eager shoppers waited to get into the store.

Even before the ribbon-cutting that was to proclaim the opening of the new store, customers were handed free radios. On entering the store, shoppers swarmed through the newly renovated building, filling the aisles and checking for bargains.

The crowd brought smiles to the faces of city officials gathered for the event, including Economic Development Director Les Stevens, Mayor Donna Thornton, City Manager Harold Parks and Councilors Larry Doughty, Gerald Robertson and Janet Cobb.

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BANGOR – Efforts to develop a comprehensive, citywide parking policy will move to Bangor’s West Side later this month. Neighborhood meetings will be held to discuss parking restrictions in the area bounded by Union, Lincoln, Fifth and Main streets.

Fire, police and public works crews have begun an inventory of potential problems in the area.

Any proposed changes in street direction or parking restrictions will be based on public safety concerns, said Ken Gibb, the city’s director of economic development.

25 years ago – Jan 6, 1980

BANGOR – Surprisingly few commercial establishments in Bangor heat with wood. But those that do – including one large church-school – like wood as a heat source. They say they favor wood because it gives them independence, saves them money, and allows them to keep their buildings warmer than they could with oil or electricity.

“If oil hadn’t gone up, we wouldn’t have tried this,” said Fred Murray, owner of H.G. Murray and Sons, a carpet store on Broadway. Murray’s used to pay about $7,000 a year for oil to heat its three-story building’s 28,800 square feet. The company converted its 16-year-old H.B. Smith boiler from oil to wood. The company bought four cords of wood, plus a couple of cords of slabs from a sawmill.

The firm hopes to save $5,000 this winter.

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BANGOR – There won’t be any Saturday high school basketball games scheduled for the Bangor Auditorium in the 1980-81 season as a result of a vote taken by the city council’s auditorium committee.

The 2-to-1 vote came after three high school athletic directors told the committee their programs wouldn’t be greatly affected by the restriction against Saturday games.

Voting in favor of the restriction were John Gass and John Baldacci. Paul Zendzian voted against the restriction because he said it would “make the school kids suffer.”

Thaxter Trafton, director of Parks and Recreation, said, “My only concern is that if it is possible to free up some Saturday nights,” it might be possible to attract some moneymaking events.

50 years ago – Jan. 6, 1955

BANGOR – Rocky, an 11-month-old fawn-colored boxer, found sailing on a cake of ice in Kenduskeag Stream a little rough.

The boxer’s trip started somewhere in the vicinity of Water Street, apparently when he wandered out onto the ice in the stream around 10 a.m.

The ice on which he was standing broke off, and the tide, which was coming in at the time, started carrying him downstream. He was unable to swim to shore at this point because the buildings come to the edge of the stream.

Patrolman Warren Brown was contacted by radio and asked to locate the dog.

A valiant Rocky, who was named after boxer Rocky Marciano, had twice gone off the cake of ice. Rocky gained a perch and stayed there. Firemen fastened a ladder with a rope to the top of the bridge over the stream on State Street. Fireman Lincoln Crawford with a rope around his waist went down to make the rescue.

Rocky was carried up the ladder and taken to the Bangor Humane Society to thaw out. Later, he was returned to his owner, lawyer Edward Stern.

The warm greeting given to Rocky by the Stern children, Marshall, 13, and Dean, 10, surely made up for the rough few minutes on the ice.

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OLD TOWN – The annual census meeting of the Penobscot Indian tribe was held Wednesday afternoon at the schoolhouse on the Indian Reservation.

Sadie Mitchell presided and Madeline Sappier was clerk. During the year, there were five deaths, 19 births and six intermarriages.

The following committee members were present: Lucy Poolaw, Susie Dana, Gladys Taylor, Delia Ranco, George Loring, Nicholas Ranco, Philomene Nelson and Albert Nicolar, governor of the Penobscot tribe. Two other members not able to be present were Mary Spencer and Eunice Attean.

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William K. Ripley, president of Sampson, Ripley and Co., owners of the Red and White Super-Markets, announced that the firm plans a $300,000 expansion program in Bangor and Brewer this year.

In Bangor, the company intends to spend $200,000 for the purchase of the block-long building at 178 Harlow St., in which the market is now located.

The other $100,000 will be used for the construction of a supermarket on South Main Street in Brewer, next to the Bangor Box Co.

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BANGOR – “Don’t underestimate the power of Bangor,” members of the Rotary Club were told at their weekly luncheon meeting at the Bangor House. The speaker was Leon P. Gorman Jr., general manager of WABI television and radio stations.

Many native Bangorians are too close to the local scene to get a good overall picture of it, he said, when actually Bangor is the most underestimated city in Maine and possibly the United States.

Although only third in population among the cities of Maine, Bangor leads the state in nearly every worthwhile business project, he said. The city contains the biggest newspaper in Maine, the biggest department store, the biggest shoe store, the biggest music store and the single biggest dealer in men’s clothing, he said.

Bangor, he concluded, is riding the tide of national prosperity.

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ORONO – An article by Dr. Harold Young, associate professor of forestry at the University of Maine, in the December issue of Photogrammetric Engineering has gained international attention.

The American Pulpwood Association is securing 1,000 reprints of the article for distribution to its membership.

Entitled “Photogrammetric Volume Determination of Huge Woodpiles,” the article deals with research work carried on by Dr. Young in cooperation with the Eastern Corporation in Brewer and the James W. Sewall Co. in Old Town. The purpose of the research was to determine the accuracy in which piles of pulpwood bolts found in mill yards may be measured using aerial photographs.

100 years ago – Jan 6, 1905

BANGOR – There have been many banquets, large and small, in the green-and-white dining room of Frey’s cafe, but very few have proved more enjoyable than the annual supper of Hose No. 2. There were many features of interest, including some rattling selections from a giant phonograph.

The following menu was served: blue points on the half shell, German bouillon, Boston celery, queen olives, roast young turkey, cranberry sauce, roast spring chicken, giblet sauce, German potato salad, cardinal punch, squash, green peas, creamed potatoes, Parker House rolls, coffee, jelly, whipped cream, apples, oranges, bananas and black coffee.

The firemen and their friends listened for a half-hour to a phonograph concert – a happy custom that is followed every year by the members of Hose 2.

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BUCKSPORT – Cmdr. Robert E. Peary arrived here on Thursday and will probably remain longer than usual.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin