Yesterday …

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(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – Aug. 4, 1995

ORONO – In 24 hours, Elke Brutsaert will try to close the one-point gap that separates her from a national mountain biking championship.

The 26-year-old Orono native is riding in second place in the National Off-Road Bike Association’s downhill standings going into this weekend’s national championships in Atlanta.

Brutsaert finished second in last season’s national championship race in Atlanta, her first-ever National Cup race, which led to her current three-year contract with Schwinn.

In her second year on the professional mountain biking circuit, the University of Maine graduate is only a point behind standings leader Kim Sonier of Flagstaff, Ariz., who has collected 231 points to Brutsaert’s 230.

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BANGOR – A new building and a new name may be in the future for the Multiple Handicap Center of Penobscot Valley.

A foundation connected to the center has purchased four acres for $175,000 on Hillside Avenue. The street is located off Broadway and connects with Grandview Avenue.

An architectural firm has been working on plans for a building, costing $1.3 million to $1.5 million, which would house all programs connected to the Multiple Handicap Center of Penobscot Valley. Leaders hope to break ground before winter, pending final funding arrangements, according to Ed Boucher, executive director of the corporation running Multiple Handicap Center of Penobscot Valley.

25 years ago – Aug. 4, 1980

WINTERPORT – An old meeting house in Winterport is unclaimed, Town Manager Rick Erb said, and the town is gearing up for a title search to see who owns the historic building.

“The Winterport Union Meeting House is on the most prominent land in town, and it is visible to everyone who rides along Route 1A,” he said. “It can either be the nicest spot in town or the eyesore of the community.”

The title search will be tedious and costly, said David Verrill, president of the Union Meeting House Corporation, because each pew owner had a share in the building and the land.

“The owners are long dead, but their descendants have to be located,” he said.

The meeting house was built around 1830 and was dedicated in 1834. The building and financing of the church was done by a group of Methodists, Quakers, Unitarians, Universalists, Congregationalists and Episcopalians. In 1850, the church was renamed the Congregational Church and used primarily for Methodist services.

The church houses two valuable antiques – a Paul Revere bell and a four-faced clock, made by the E. Howard Co. of Waltham, Mass., and installed in 1860.

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BANGOR – American Legion baseball.

A couple of weeks ago I extolled its virtue. I talked about the entertainment value, getting the opportunity to watch some of the best young baseball talent in the state for the minimal fee of a donation.

I still feel the same way.

But last week, I found myself wondering if my enjoyment covering Legion baseball was worth what I just witnessed. I seriously gave thought to giving it up after this season.

What prompted this feeling was one of the most pathetic and sickening examples of fan behavior that I have ever seen.

A couple, in particular, were making comments about opposing players that were just plain malicious.

I would like to congratulate the opposing fans for showing enough class not to retaliate.

50 years ago – Aug. 4, 1955

BANGOR – A hot sun baked the Bangor Fair Grounds as more than 6,000 guys and gals whooped it up on the rides, bet $33,947 on harness racing, stuffed themselves with hotdogs and pink cotton candy, and generally had an old-fashioned good time for themselves.

It was Governor’s Day at the fair, but the governor was unable to attend.

Everyone else was there, it seemed. People ambled through the exhibit halls to see the flower displays, stopped under the grandstand to watch the fawn in the wildlife exhibit, munched all sorts of edibles that digest miraculously at fair time, and sniffed the dry, dusty air.

During the evening the fair’s spectacular grandstand show featuring the Roxyettes and 10 acts of lively vaudeville performed to a capacity crowd.

Today is Armed Forces Day at the fair and an invasion of Bass Park by uniformed young men is expected.

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BANGOR – A half-dozen children gather around a table to “make something” with their hands once a week, and as they pound and mold plaster, they sing together.

This is a simple thing, and not unusual. But these children are “exceptional” and the hour and a half they spend at City Hall each week is a high spot.

Miss Ethel Pinkham of the recreation department’s summer staff is conducting the special crafts class for boys and girls who do not attend the playgrounds with youngsters because they cannot.

Youngsters like those in the class, unable to take part in most of the other activities around the city, have very little to occupy their days.

“I try to give them things to do that they can take home, too,” the teacher said. “They like to make things they can give away.” Some of these children are discovering for the first time the satisfaction of making a gift for someone they love.

The class is a happy class. Sometimes Miss Pinkham brings a phonograph in and everyone sings along with the records. But if the phonograph is in use elsewhere, they don’t really mind.

They sing anyway.

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OLD TOWN – Large groups continue to attend the teenage dances which are sponsored by the Better Youth Club at their hall on Bosworth Street. Tuesday night, 190 young people attended the dance.

Chaperones were Mr. and Mrs. Leo Richards, Emile Doucette, Raymond White, Mrs. Fred Baillargeon, Mrs. Yvonne Martin, Mrs. George Lavoie, Mrs. Angie Rand and Miss Jessie Sargent.

100 years ago – Aug. 4, 1905

BANGOR – Mr. and Mrs. William T. Veazie, of New York, and Lionel Landsdowne of London, who have been at Debsconeag for two weeks, returned on the Knickerbocker Limited.

Mr. Veazie is a Bangor boy, having graduated from Bangor High School in the class of ’95 and Bowdoin in the class of ’99. Mr. Veazie has been interested in oil fields in Texas for the past few years, but will live in New York now to look after extensive the interests he has in the east.

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OLD TOWN – Police Inspector Calvin Knaide recovered three gold watches and chains from various places, which had been stolen from Old Town. One was found in a jewelry store, one in a pawn shop and the third down in “Mexican Chile.” There will be no prosecution as the person who owns the watches refuses to appear.

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HAMPDEN – Arrangements are being made by members of the Grand Army of the Republic post at Hampden for the 29th annual reunion of the First Maine Heavy Artillery Regimental Association. The Hampden men belong to Co. F.

Members of the First Maine all over the state have been notified of the reunion by Charles J. House of Augusta, the secretary, and a large attendance is assured. Half rates on the railroads have been secured, the Maine Central charging but 13/4 cents per mile with stopover privileges.

The program, while not fully decided upon, will undoubtedly consist of a business meeting in the forenoon, followed by dinner and a campfire in the afternoon with supper and a trip to Riverside Park in the evening.

Many of the members of the First Maine live in Bangor or nearby towns such as Hampden, and these together with a large number coming from all parts of the state will make a reunion which will be remembered for a long time.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin