(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – July 21, 1995

BANGOR – Question: Why did the rooster cross the street? Answer: To get to Momma Baldacci’s, of course.

The monthlong saga of Ricardo, a renegade rooster, came to a happy end – but not before the crafty creature built up a considerable following at Momma Baldacci’s Italian Restaurant, a place he frequented daily.

“I’ll miss him,” said one waitress, looking out the window as Ricardo was dispatched to a local farm following an eventful mid-morning chase. She was one of several employees who fed the rooster up to three times daily, when he crowed for his breakfast, lunch and supper.

Three concerned citizens – Suzanne Flood, Lynn LeClair and Steven Santarpia – deployed nets and finally captured the wayward bird in a bush adjacent to the restaurant. The trio said they all work for Community Health and Counseling Services, and that the rooster was bound for a group home at a farm in Levant.

Ricardo survived a month of crossing Broadway, a busy four-lane city street, at least twice a day to reach the restaurant.

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BANGOR – “Ada Godfrey Merrill” sits comfortably in a marble and wood seat in the upstairs foyer of the Isaac Farrar Mansion. When she stands, she delicately lifts the expanse of her hoop-like brocaded dress so she may walk without tripping. She strolls down the carpeted staircase and greets her guests. They have come to hear her talk about her house, to have tea, to listen to her stories about one of Bangor’s most progressive homes.

In the music room, she tells of small ensembles that perform there. It is a “joyful room” with lots of light because her husband Isaac Merrill added an alcove with a bay window. One of Bangor’s best-known architects, Wilfred Mansur, made the changes, she says. But Richard Upjohn, the architect for St. John’s Catholic Church in Bangor, designed the house.

For Ada Merrill, the date is anywhere between 1892 and 1911, the years she and Isaac and their three sons lived in the mansion, which was built by lumber merchant Isaac Farrar in the 1830s.

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VEAZIE – After years on a waiting list for state approval, Veazie has received the Department of Education’s blessing for its school construction project.

“It feels good,” said Scott Nichols, principal of the 69-year-old John R. Graham School in Veazie. “It feels like we’re doing all the right things.”

Veazie first applied for a new school in 1987. After a new application was submitted in the spring of 1993, Veazie neared the top of the department’s approval list.

Plans are for a school to be built next to the Graham School, which serves kindergarten through eighth-graders in Veazie. Superintendent Bill Ziemer said he hopes the school will be completed within three years.

25 years ago – July 21, 1980

HAMPDEN – Had a fair Orrington maiden not caught the eye of the capricious Lt. Henry Little of Bucksport, the 1814 Battle of Hampden might have been won by the Americans.

As it turns out, the citizens of Hampden and members of the Maine Militia Council will re-enact this battle of the War of 1812 in a call-to-arms celebration to recall the trials and suspense of the event and to show that even a battle lost can turn out to be an exciting slice of living history.

The war seemed far away to the bustling settlements along Penobscot Bay during the first two years of hostilities with Great Britain. So it wasn’t surprising that the outgunned and out-manned garrison at Castine showed little inclination to fight when suddenly confronted by a vastly superior British force.

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ORONO – The Orono Ecumenical Organization has accepted the request of the Catholic Diocesan Human Relation Office to assist in the settlement of a Cuban refugee family consisting of a grandmother, mother, father and four children. The group hopes that the family will be available for settlement in Orono in July. Efforts are under way to locate a four-bedroom apartment and furniture, bedding, kitchen utensils and clothing.

50 years ago – July 21, 1955

BANGOR – The Bangor-Brewer Tuberculosis and Health Association will cooperate with the State Department of Health and Welfare and the Bangor Health Department in a project to x-ray those who wish this service at the Bangor Fair, according to David G. Mean, president of the association. The purpose is to find unknown cases of tuberculosis.

“X-rays will be free,” Mr. Means said. “Men in the age group over 45 are especially urged to take advantage of this opportunity because it is among them that tuberculosis is mostly frequently discovered.”

Mrs. Galen Cole, a board member of the association, will head a committee which will plan distribution of posters and schedule volunteers to assist at the x-ray location.

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BREWER – The Brewer Kiwanis Club was taken on a scenic tour via slides of the Maine Junior Sportsman’s Conservation Camp at Branch Pond, by camp director Victor Viola. In August, 90 boys will arrive to take the conservation course and learn how to be good sportsmen.

The boys are taught how to handle themselves in the woods and on water while hunting and fishing, and to have a respect for the natural resources of this country. The camp’s motto is “We are born not for ourselves, but for others.”

The game wardens and instructors really turn the boys into good sportsmen and conservationists in a highly concentrated course, Viola told the Kiwanians.

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OLD TOWN – The Old Town Homemakers will meet at the YMCA Community House. The subject of the meeting will be “Painting Wooden Bowls,” under the supervision of Mrs. Gertrude Sass and Mrs. Blanche King.

Mrs. Sass and Mrs. King attended an all-day meeting at the Bangor YWCA on the subject of painting wooden bowls.

100 years ago – July 21, 1905

BUCKSPORT – The Pennsylvania Steel Co. received the girders for the bridge to be erected at Sandy Point highway. The enormous power of the huge derricks in the company’s yard can be well-understood when one knows they will lift this weight as easily a they would two planks. The Sandy Point highway bridge is a single-span bridge, 72 feet long.

. Will Weymouth of East Orland has put into commission a fine new gasoline launch at Toddy Pond, which fact will be greatly appreciated by the cottagers.

. The schooner Robert W., Capt. Brackett, arrived from Mt. Waldo with a cargo of granite for the new post office at Cleveland, Ohio.

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ORONO – The force already at work in the waterworks’ trenches was increased by the arrival of 50 more Italian laborers. Contractor Taylor now has 75 men at work and the sand and gravel are flying.

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BANGOR – At a meeting of the board of directors of the Bangor YMCA, it was decided to begin work on the proposed dormitory at once. This dormitory will utilize the space of the lecture room or hall on the second floor, and will contain 34 rooms. The rooms will occupy three floors with a bath on each floor. On the first floor there will be a parlor and office.

Steam heat, electric lights and comfortable furnishings will add much to the comfort of the many young men who will no doubt make this portion of the big building their home. It is estimated that the work will cost between $5,000 and $6,000, including furnishings. The plans by W.E. Mansur were printed exclusively in the NEWS last November.

The dormitory will provide clean, comfortable, quiet rooms for young men without homes, and especially for those working for small pay, at an almost nominal rate, for it is proposed to rent the rooms at a very low rate, probably $1.50 a week. With two in the room this will make living at the YMCA vastly preferred for a young man than the average low-priced boarding house.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin