(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – Feb. 10, 1995

EDDINGTON – Bangor television station WVII went off the air when its transmitter building atop Blackcap Mountain burned to the ground.

Initial reports could only confirm that the building housing the station’s transmitting equipment was on fire.

Bangor dispatchers said the Eddington Fire Department was attempting to put out the fire, but was having difficulty getting equipment to the site.

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ORONO – I didn’t know Alice and Charlie Smith raised their children to appreciate nature. I didn’t know that Alice is worried about the survival of the Maine woods. And that she and Charlie know a woman who rebelliously replanted some lady-slippers – Maine’s dear wild orchids – when she heard a developer was plowing a lot where they grew.

In fact, I didn’t even know Alice and Charlie until a few nights ago when they were at the “Let’s Talk About It” program at the Orono Public Library.

Along with 30 other people, the Smiths and I had heard about the reading group either through local newspapers or posters at the library. We had spent a couple of hours reading “The Tree” by John Fowles. Before we arrived at the library, we had thought about Fowles’ words, his idea that personal and cultural relationships have been compromised by scientific developments, that science encourages us to feel superior to other living things on Earth.

Not only did we, indeed, want to talk about it. We also wanted to know what our neighbors were thinking.

25 years ago – Feb. 10, 1980

BANGOR – The old saw, “A prophet is without honor in his own country,” seems to apply to the Ralph Robinson Dance Company, for during its Florida tour Jan. 8-29 all performances were sold out, with senior citizens, at times, practically stampeding to get the best seats.

“This enthusiasm has a definite effect on the dancers,” said Robinson. “It makes them feel wanted, and they give their best. We wish that Bangor would respond like that.”

Bangor will have a chance to show its appreciation to the troupe that provides the area with dance when it performs at Portland Hall on the campus of Bangor Community College. The company is still on a collective high from its recent experiences in Florida, where they already are booked for 14 performances – as opposed to this year’s eight – in 1981.

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BANGOR – Cupid’s arrow seems to get even the best and most elusive at one time or another. This time it snagged the Bangor Daily News’s upbeat sports writer, Larry Mahoney.

Larry’s antics have been well publicized in the NEWS at different times from first-person accounts of his running a 5-mile road race two years ago and more recently taking hockey stick in hand and defending himself against the puck and the opposite team.

Less publicized is his have-you-heard-this-joke and can-you-top-that-one clowning around in the newsroom.

Agreeing to put up with all this energy and mayhem is Sally Crosby Woodcock of Bangor.

While Sally and Larry were not exactly childhood sweethearts – they hardly noticed each other while attending Bangor High School – sometimes with age comes wisdom. Larry spotted Sally a couple of years later at the University of Maine and asked her out. A three-and-a-half-year courtship followed before he popped the question in November. They’ll marry June 14 in St. John’s Catholic Church in Bangor.

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ORONO – Conductor Ludlow Hallman and the University of Maine Orchestra will feature as guest soloists two of the winners of the annual concerto contest.

Susan Aceto and Cathy Rans, both of Orono and graduate students in piano in the UM School of Performing Arts, will be the guest soloists. Miss Rand will play Bach’s “D Minor Piano Concerto” and Mrs. Aceto will present the Beethoven Concerto No. 5 in E Flat Major.

Winners of the competition were judged by a panel which included Aime Simoneau, music director at Bangor High School; Robert Newell, Bangor Daily News music critic; and Dr. Dennis Cox of the UM music faculty.

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BANGOR – “Harmonize the world!” That’s the motto of Sweet Adelines Inc., the international organization of women devoted to the American folk art of barbershop singing. This is music sung in four-part harmony without accompaniment, in groups ranging from a quartet to a chorus of 100 or more.

The Penobscot Valley Chapter, based in Bangor, was organized more than two years ago and began serious work toward its being chartered when it secured the services of Robert Goodwin as its director. For 10 years chairman of the department of music at the University of Maine, Dr. Goodwin had a national reputation as a choral director.

The chapter is within a few months of meeting all the requirements for acceptance into the international organization. At that time it will become one of more than 600 choruses in the United States, Canada and several foreign countries which have been accredited and granted a charter.

50 years ago – Feb. 10, 1955

HERMON – Mrs. Grace Stapley Hartson of Hermon marked her 84th birthday with a lively ride in a two-wheeled pony cart pulled by a Shetland pony, Jigs. Mrs. Hartson, a native of Hampden, lives with Mrs. Annie Jackson of Hermon and held open house on her birthday with gifts, cakes and cards from relatives and friends. A member of the Hermon Rebekah lodge and the O.E.S., Mrs. Hartson lived 50 years in Newburgh. The pony and cart are owned by a neighbor, Ivan Hunt.

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BANGOR – Nearly 1,000 people filled John Bapst auditorium on the final night of St. Mary’s Catholic Parish reunion to watch 160 pupils of the Josephine Shanley School of the Dance present a variety show of ballet, tap, acrobatic and song and dance numbers. Latecomers found standing room only in the large auditorium.

As on two previous nights an evening of excellent entertainment was provided. Those participating ranged in age from 3 to 17 years, with the majority under age 8. The audience opened its heart to the bejeweled little tots whose cherubic faces and dimpled arms and legs made one want to reach out and hug them.

All of the acts displayed considerable talent and the effects of excellent training. It would be impossible to pick any one as the most outstanding.

100 years ago – Feb. 10, 1905

BRADLEY – A dance for the benefit of Augustus Gee will be held in Bradley Town Hall under the management of the Independent Fire Co. Rowe’s orchestra will furnish the music. Henry L. Swett will be the floor director and his aides will be William Dube, Frank Spruce and Roy Spencer of Bradley; Alice Spruce of Milford, O.B. Fernandez of Old Town, Frank King of Orono, D. Kimball of Great Works and Dr. Pease of East Eddington.

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BANGOR – There will be a real German countess in Bangor, one whose title is as old as that of the present reigning family of the German empire, the Hohenzollerns. She will come here, not to see the industries of the city, or to visit society people, but simply as a hardworking prima donna in the musical comedy, “The Burgomaster.”

She is Olga Regina, Countess von Hatzfeldt, and she is the first cousin of the Prince von Hatzfeldt, whose marriage to the daughter of the late Collis P. Huntington, the great railway magnate, a few years ago, was the subject of international discussion.

In the early 1870s Edmond, Count von Hatzfeldt, became involved in a duel in Germany with a brother officer and was unfortunate enough to kill his opponent. He was forced to flee to this country and, being disinherited by his family, had to earn his own living. He went on the stage and in Chicago met, wooed and married Anna Acer, a German actress.

The little girl, Olga Regina, was the result of this union, and as the title was an Austrian one, it descended to her.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin