(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – Sept. 1, 1995

BANGOR – The New England Country Music Historical Society has received confirmation from the Country Music Foundation of Nashville, Tenn., that Yodelin’ Slim Clark’s credentials have been approved and he will be inducted into the Walkway of Stars at the Country Music Hall of Fame in October 1996.

Clark produced “RFD Dinnerbell” at WABI Radio and Television from 1953 to 1969, the first commercial program of his several television shows.

Clark, of St. Albans, said, “This would be a great way to cap off my 65 years as an entertainer and I consider it an honor they accepted me, a northerner, down there in Nashville with my peers.” Clark chose to have his star placed between Massachusetts Country Hall of Fame member yodeler Kenny Roberts, and Grand Ole Opry members The Riders in the Sky.

Stars adjacent to his include Ray Whitley, Mickey Gilley and O.B. McClinton. Nearby are Dick Curless and Elton Britt.

Clark’s other awards include the Maine and Massachusetts Country Music Hall of Fame trophies and a Pioneer Award in the Downeast Country Music Association.

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BANGOR – Two WWII bombers will fly over the city and the Standpipe on Sept. 3 while en route to the Bangor International Airport as part of the Salute to Veterans ’95 Tour. The fly-over is timed to signal the start of the Bangor Band concert on the promenade deck of the Standpipe.

The two four-engine bombers, a B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator, act as a flying museum, which is scheduled to visit more than 100 cities during the 50th commemorative year of WWII.

The All-American B-24 and the Nine-O-Nine B-17 are two of the very few WWII vintage bombers restored to flying condition. The All-American is the only B-24 Liberator bomber completely restored and operational in the world.

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ORRINGTON – Construction has begun on the long-awaited Route 15 bypass in South Orrington.

Maine Department of Transportation area construction engineer Everett Drake said the bypass will eliminate two railroad crossings and two dangerous intersections at Swett’s Pond Road and Hoxie Hill Road. Drake said the present road was considered inadequate for the traffic count and for safety reasons. The cost of the project is $1,676,000.

Crews are removing trees and brush and clearing the way for 1.37 miles of new construction. Loads of fill were trucked in early this week to fill a gully near where the road will begin.

The old road, Drake said, will revert to the town and probably will include some dead-end sections with turnaround areas.

25 years ago – Sept. 1, 1980

BANGOR – The horse barns at Bangor were transformed into a medieval atmosphere. Brightly colored bunting adorned each exhibitor’s stall from floor to ceiling, and dazzling, jeweled, Mid-East costumed ladies rode on silver saddles atop their mighty Arabian mounts.

The fifth annual Maine All-Arabian Horse Show held at Bass Park displayed some 300 of the finest Arabian horses on the East Coast. The show ran 100 classes of competition during the three-day event.

Through 20 centuries of careful nurturing, the Arabian horse has maintained the exceptional conformation, intelligence and affinity for human beings that pleased the desert nomads, conquistadors, kings and generals. History records that from Alexander the Great to Napoleon to George Washington, purebred Arabians were treasured through their lifetimes.

50 years ago – Sept. 1, 1955

ORRINGTON – Vernon V.B. Smith of Hampton, Va., formerly of Orrington, an electrician for the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., is one of the shipyard personnel chosen to go out on the trial run of the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal, the largest war ship in the world.

Smith has received high commendation for his electrical work on the Forrestal and also on the USS Intrepid and USS Lake Champlain.

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CORINTH – David Dearing of Bangor has been named coach of cross country, basketball and baseball at Corinth Academy. Dearing is a 1955 graduate of the University of Maine, and a 1951 graduate of Bangor High School. He was a member of track and cross country teams at UMaine. He played basketball at Bangor and also was a member of the Bangor track and cross country squads. He also will teach social studies at Corinth. He is married to the former Doris Rand of Old Town and they have a 16-month-old daughter.

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ORONO – While Mr. and Mrs. Raino Lanson and son, Bill, and daughter, Jean, of Bennoch Road were on a 2,700-mile camping trip in the United States and Canada during the past month, they spotted Orono, Ontario, on the road map and decided that they must stop there and inquire how the town, approximately the size of Orono, got its name.

In a variety store where they stopped for a few souvenirs, they learned that possibly Orono, Ontario, was named for Orono, Maine.

The Lanson’s 9-year-old daughter, Jean, who last spring had taken part in a playlet on the history of Orono, told the clerk in the Ontario store about Joseph Orono – a white man who was raised by a tribe of Indians – for whom the town was named.

The relationship between the two towns, if there is one, must date back to at least the year 1832, for it was at this time that Orono, Ontario, received its name.

100 years ago – Sept. 1, 1905

BANGOR – From the moment the sun rose until it set blood red, screened by a thick smother of smoke from the great forest fires, Maplewood Park shook with excitement. It was just as good as the day before – better perhaps – only it lacked the added dignity that comes with the presence of the governor and his brilliantly uniformed staff.

The vaudeville was as good as usual. The races were close and very interesting and the police service had braced up wonderfully. Excellent order was kept and not a fight was reported. Neither had there been pocket-picking or annoyances.

The attendance was estimated yesterday at from 10,000 to 12,000. The midway did its usual thriving business and was just as noisy and dusty and crowded as ever. It was hot, naturally. Midways always are.

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BUCKSPORT – The schooner yacht Intrepid came into port with the captain and owner, Lloyd Phoenix of New York, and a party. Mr. Phoenix is one of the famous old naval officers, having been on the historic old Kearsarge when she sank the Alabama. The party came from Rockland and took the train for Bangor where they will attend the fair.

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ORONO – The progress in the construction of the new stone church of St. Mary’s is so rapid that the builder, Mr. V.R. Smith, expects to have the mason work completed within a few weeks. Then he will invite those who understand architectural beauty to come and see the work raised by him and his fellow masons.

Claude Noyes of Orono with a corps of carpenters is putting in the framework and placing the roof, and expects to have the latter ready for the slater, Robert Reilly of Bangor, within a week or 10 days.

Mr. Reilly, who has the contract for the roofing, will cover St. Mary’s church with light slate procured from New York state. This light green slating, together with the pink granite trimmings and the blue stone body of the church, will present a delightful and harmonious grouping of delicate tints and will make St. Mary’s the prettiest church of its size in New England. The architect, Victor Hodgins, may well be proud of his design.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin