10 years ago – Dec. 29, 1995

(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

BREWER – Buffy awakes and stretches lazily, then jumps from the top of a filing cabinet to the floor and bounds onto a library table, selecting a warm sunbeam to resume his nap.

He continues on the prowl on this recent winter afternoon, jumping onto another table next to librarian Elise Gould and settling down to sleep in front of an elderly gentleman reading a newspaper.

The orange-and-white tabby stretches out on the opened newspaper, and the reader gently pulls the paper from under the cat in order to turn the page.

Buffy has become Brewer Public Library’s mascot. His whiskered likeness graces the library’s letterhead, and Buffy refrigerator magnets, proclaiming “Brewer Public Library is Purr-fect,” are available for a donation. The features of this distinctive feline may even grace the next issue of the Brewer Library canvas bags.

While the tabby’s favorite napping spot is atop the card catalog cabinet, he will claim the right to stretch out across any cards spread out on tables. When he does, the library staffers just work around him.

Buffy’s real home is across the street with his owner, Marla Saliba. But when Saliba goes to work, Buffy books it.

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BANGOR – For years, people carried Christmas presents out of Freese’s Department Store. On Wednesday, it was the building’s turn to receive a couple of gifts in the form of city support for projects that may bring life back to the long-vacant Main Street Landmark.

City councilors first approved a tentative developer and option agreement with the Northern Conservatory of Music, which plans to put the Maine School for the Arts in about two-thirds of the building.

The council then approved a development agreement with Freese Building Associates to put 34 units of affordable housing for the elderly in the rear third of the building.

25 years ago – Dec. 29, 1980

BREWER – The grinding of snowplows, an oil furnace igniting and a stove crackling are among the sounds that we become accustomed to during winter in Maine.

The “chirp, chirp” of a robin is a sound generally associated with the warmer seasons. So it was with some surprise that John Paretty observed several robins outside his home in Brewer.

But the robin, a bird of about 10 inches in length and a member of the thrush family, is supposed to know better than to hang around Maine during the cold winter months.

The birds in Paretty’s backyard were sitting in the bushes with their feathers fluffed up and looking like they may have been reconsidering their winter vacation arrangements.

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ORONO – The most recent gift to the University of Maine art collection, an 11-foot, half-ton sculpture, “Landscape,” by Chicago sculptor Abbott Pattison, has been installed in its new home in front of Carnegie Hall on the UM campus.

The sculpture will stand in a small clearing outside Carnegie Hall for several months and eventually be moved to a permanent spot on campus, according to Vincent A. Hartgen, curator of the art collection.

Pattison is a native of Chicago, but has been coming to Maine since he was 5 years old.

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ORONO – Pledges of $4,000 have been announced in the University of Maine drive for the Penobscot Valley United Fund.

The student goal was $2,800.

Among these pledges are 10 percent of the profits of a dormitory complex store, a fraternity tug-of-war project and three cents apiece for the sale of soft drinks in one of the residence halls.

50 years ago – Dec. 29, 1955

BANGOR – The United States Coast Guard ice breaker Snohomish cleared a path through the ice of the Penobscot for three oil tankers.

The Snohomish made two trips up and down the river to bring in the R.J. Perry and the Providence, and Wednesday night was standing by to help the Harold Reinauer in case that vessel needed assistance.

But her experienced acting commanding officer, BMC Philip York, did not believe that he would be called out, as the traffic on the river during the day kept the ice pretty well broken up.

York, a 23-year veteran of Coast Guard seamanship, is an old ice man, having bucked the ice in the Greenland and Iceland fjords during the war.

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BANGOR – The Bangor City Council referred to its committee on public safety to study a proposed ban on “switch knives” in Bangor.

The committee may go into the subject of “possession” of the knives, making the proposed ordinance even stronger than originally written.

As proposed, it would forbid displaying in a threatening manner, or wearing under one’s clothes, or concealing on one’s person any switchblade knife or device that can be opened by “flick of a button” or pressure of the handle.

100 years ago – Dec. 29, 1905

BANGOR – Fresh, plump Pushaw pickerel is an item on the menu at Frey’s restaurant just now. The addition to the menu is the result of a trip to Pushaw of Alec and his retinue of hole choppers, bait carrier and general assistants who have just returned with a barrel or so of pickerel, none weighing much less than 4 pounds. The expedition was quartered at Chris Toole’s new hotel.

Mr. Phillips admits that the good catch was due entirely to the bait which was some of the peculiar silver shiners which grow only in Saugalockatagamawusekeag Stream in Blue Hill, a consignment he imported especially for this trip.

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WINTERPORT – Winterport defeated Frankfort at basketball in a good game before a large, and at times much excited, audience. Raymond of the Frankfort team was disqualified for rough playing, but allowed to re-enter the game as the visitors had no available substitutes. Between the halves, Treat, Lowe and Co. entertained the crowd with gramophone selections.

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BUCKSPORT – The smelt fishing on the Verona-Bucksport bridge is carried on every night on the flood tide. The nets are yielding the usual assortment of smelts, tomcods, flounders, sculpions and, by way of a change, a few silver hake and shrimp.

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ORRINGTON – Blacksmith George Avery is away from the shop for a time and is engaged in hauling logs with his horse. Howard Eaton of Brewer is engaged in running the shop.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin