Yesterday …

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(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – Nov. 17, 1995

BANGOR – Forget the banner, tune out the patriotic music, ignore the 1-800 number on the lectern: The perfect backdrop for Ross Perot’s speech here was the budget showdown in Washington.

The shutdown of the federal government – the result of a budget impasse between the Republican-controlled Congress and the Democratic White House – was bait the Texan could not resist. The standoff is, he said, something akin to a train wreck.

“If it is, I say it’s a heck of a way to run a railroad,” Perot told a Husson College crowd of more than 500.

Even though 800,000 government workers have been furloughed during the budget crisis, Perot said starting up the government again will cost even more money when factoring in overtime pay to relieve the backlog of work.

“Is this the way to spend your tax dollars?” Perot asked in his now-famous Texarkana drawl. “I don’t think so.”

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BANGOR – Students at St. Mary’s Parish School practiced the “love-thy-neighbor” philosophy they have heard so often in religion classes by donating 25 turkeys to Manna Ministries soup kitchen.

The donation placed Manna closer to its goal of giving out 500 boxed dinners and fixings for Thanksgiving, according to Executive Director Bill Rae.

The turkey donations were complemented by items that ranged from cranberry sauce to packages of bread and vegetables that were brought in by the students. On a crisp, sunny morning, eight youngsters hoisted turkeys weighing 14-16 pounds into a van that hauled the fare to soup kitchen headquarters on Center Street.

25 years ago – Nov. 17, 1980

BANGOR – The Bangor Civic Center recorded the heaviest daily attendance in its history when nearly 7,500 persons attended the Cavalcade of Crafts exhibition.

“This proves all over again that the civic center is a real asset to this city,” said Joe Pate, co-director of the center, who estimated that an additional 5,000 persons attended the second day of the exhibition.

“We accomplished what we set out to do,” Pate said. “We proved that people in the area have an interest in this kind of show, and we delivered what they wanted.”

Pate estimates that 40 percent were first-visitors to the civic center, along with 40 of the 73 crafts exhibitors themselves.

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BANGOR – Ina Ladd Brown, who has been enchanting readers with her poetry for more than 40 years, could be accused of living a double life.

By day, she treads the realistic world of law through her secretarial duties at a local firm. But by night she escapes into the creative world of writing poetry.

From this chameleon-like life have emerged Ladd’s nine books. Her poetry has been published in the United States and England. Her five plays were produced in this area by what was then the Bangor Civic Theatre.

But more than law, theater or even writing, she loves people and life. “I’m an enthusiast at whatever I do, for I have a zest for life, and I share my love of beauty through my poems. I think, to be a good poet, one has to be empathetic, to know people’s insides and to like people better than poetry, which, I do.”

50 years ago – Nov. 17, 1955

BUCKSPORT – Maj. Herbert K. Gray, whose wife, the former Mildred Smith, lives in Bucksport, has been selected to attend the Royal Air Force Staff College near London, England, as part of an exchange program between the U.S. Air Force and the Royal Air Force.

Gray, who has been serving as operations officer of the 83rd Air Transport Squadron, MATS, Grenier Air Force Base, N.H., will be attached to the RAF for flying while at the college. On completion of the college course, he is programmed for further assignment in continental Europe.

He is currently on leave in East Blue Hill where his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Herman O. Gray, reside. Major and Mrs. Gray have three children, Gayle, Bruce and Pamela. He will be accompanied by his family when he leaves for England early in December.

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BANGOR – The governing board of the Bangor Merchants Bureau unanimously voted to continue the express, or shuttle bus service from the auditorium parking lot downtown on a trial basis on Fridays and Saturdays until Dec. 17.

If the service is used during this time, it will be maintained during the week of Dec. 19.

If the service is not patronized the entire project will be dropped and “some other approach to the parking problem will be made.”

The bureau is underwriting the service to the tune of $500 between now and Christmas, permitting shoppers to park their cars at the auditorium and travel nonstop to the stores for 5 cents. The usual fare is 15 cents.

The express, or shuttle service was initiated during Bangor Days two weeks ago. Very few people patronized it.

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BANGOR – Winter is pounding on the door. The U.S. Weather Bureau has predicted that today will be cloudy and cool with freezing rain turning to snow late in the day. The temperature will be in the 40-20 degree range.

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BANGOR – More than 50 high school students have already signed up for the Figure Skating Club, sponsored by the Bangor Recreation Department, Bernard Campell, director, said. The students come from Bangor, Brewer, Orrington and Hampden.

Five adults and 21 children also have registered, Campbell said, adding that more adults were needed.

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BANGOR – Maj. Ralph N. Leone, maintenance officer at Dow Air Force Base, addressed the Bangor Kiwanis Club on operations and conditions at Thule AFB, in Greenland, illustrating his talk with slides.

Major Leone explained that Thule, one of several bases strung along the northern outposts of the continent, is leased from Denmark for 99 years by the United States.

Navigation, he said, is a problem there, because although below the North Pole, Thule is above the magnetic point of the globe and compass readings are unsteady. Landmarks, he added, are generally crevasses in the ice, and icebergs.

100 years ago – Nov. 17, 1905

BANGOR – After drilling for several weeks in the yard of the Palm Street school, the drill struck plenty of water. Four times the drill has been down to strike slanting ledge, but the fifth attempt was very successful, the drill opening three veins. The well is 72 feet deep, with water 57 feet. The pump connected to the drill was unable to make any impression on the flow, which is pronounced entirely satisfactory.

The apparatus has been moved to Abbott Square, where work will begin this morning.

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ORLAND – Fish commission car No. 5, in charge of W.H. Thomas, left on the Wednesday evening train for the western part of the state, where 1,200 landlocked salmon and 13,000 brook trout, which were shipped from the Craig Brook station, will be distributed, the last point being at Oquossoc on the Rangeley Lakes. The brook trout were very large, being from 3 to 41/2 inches in length.

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BUCKSPORT – The schooner William Matherson, Capt. Freeman Hutchings, cleared today in tow of C.O. Page’s gasoline launch, Lulu, for Prince Edward Island where she will take on a cargo of potatoes for a domestic port.

Capt. and Mrs. D.W. Hagerthy will shortly move into the Mrs. Georgie Buck house.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin