YESTERDAY …

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(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – July 13, 1996

BANGOR – Paul Bunyan, the legendary woodsman whose statue stands on Main Street, was honored in Paul Bunyan Park with a dedication ceremony marking the issuance of Folk Heroes commemorative stamps.

The U.S. Postal Service also released stamps featuring Pecos Bill, John Henry and Mighty Casey from the poem “Casey at the Bat.”

“I’m sure [the stamps] are going to be popular with everyone,” said Barbara Patterson, the postal service’s district manager of customer service and sales, in her dedication speech to more than 100 onlookers. “Paul Bunyan’s reputation goes across the country – not just here in Maine, but all the way to California.”

25 years ago – July 13, 1981

BUCKSPORT – The Bucksport Town Council voted at its regular meeting to temporarily extinguish 10 streetlights that have been deemed unnecessary by the town’s police department.

Citing a police report that named 60 lights in Bucksport that qualified for the switch-off, the council voted to douse three lights on McDonald Street, five on Pine Street, one on Third Street, and one at the Silver Lake landing which has been broken by vandals and is out of service anyway.

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BANGOR – If one were observing the scene from the viewpoint of a tourist, the hundreds gathered at the Downeast School athletic field in Old Capehart may have appeared to be on a typical Maine summer outing.

But to Judy Guay, Dave Jones, Bill and Judy Charpentier, Marie Pelkey, Irv Elmer, Juanita McLaughlin and Pat Blanchette, the outing was far from typical – it was the first of its kind in Old Capehart, certainly not destined to be the last, and the response of the neighborhood residents bore out Guay’s assertion that “there is a real community here.”

Guay helped found the Community of Pride in Capehart this year. The community action group has grown to 125 members in three months.

One of the group’s first initiatives was the popular neighborhood clean-up program in which members of the Old Capehart community donated their time to assist in trash and junk removal. The city of Bangor donated a truck for the program and the vehicle was filled to capacity 22 times.

50 years ago – July 13, 1956

BANGOR – Bangor’s Golden Hoe contest, sponsored by the Bangor Garden Club, is stimulating considerable interest in “prettying” up the city. The contest provides that the two prettiest front yards entered in the competition will bring their cultivators beautiful sterling silver trays as prizes.

The effort to beautify the city is in line with similar efforts being made across the nation. Various organizations have been formed to promote such aesthetic endeavor. Litter cans topped with colorful pots of flowers are appearing in hamlets and large cities, inviting one and all to stop being litterbugs.

The idea has caught on and hundreds of organizations throughout the 48 states are promoting the beautifying of communities, states and even the nation. Cropping up in the news from day to day are such slogans as “Keep Vermont Beautiful.” Cars coming through Bangor have been seen sporting stickers saying “Keep Arizona Clean.”

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BANGOR – An item in the 25 Years Ago column of the Bangor Daily News brought back vivid memories to a Bangor visitor. Mrs. Franklin Clifford of Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, was visiting with her old schoolmate, Irene Casey, at 169 Hancock St., when they happened on the item.

It told of their rescue 25 years ago from the waters of the Penobscot River when the two girls, plus Alice Casey, then 17, and now the present Mrs. Nelson Remick, were pulled from the Penobscot by Leo Doucette.

In the confusion of saving the three girls, Doucette went unnoticed and efforts of Bangor and Old Town police, plus NEWS reporters failed to turn up the hero of the triple rescue 25 years ago.

Doucette leaped from his truck, unlaced his high boots, and dove into the river from the bridge. Irene Casey and Luella Dean (now Mrs. Franklin Clifford), both then 13, were struggling to keep the older girl afloat. She had suffered a cramp and was dragging the two younger girls under. The current was dragging the group downstream.

Doucette swam for the struggling trio. An unknown man on the bridge lowered a rope which Doucette tied around the wrists of the girls, and succeeded in getting them to one of the pilings, dead center of the bridge.

A Boy Scout, who had been passing and had seen the situation, ran to the Bangor end of the bridge and summoned police and firemen.

100 years ago – July 13, 1906

BANGOR – One witnessing the departure of most any boat or train from Bangor at this time of year will wonder at the variety and number of “snap shot boxes.”

The old-time, bulky view and box cameras are seldom seen, and by far the greater portion of those now carried are of the pocket, folding variety.

The possessor of a modern camera of the Kodak type can carry film enough for several hundred exposures besides the apparatus, and the entire combination will not be as bulky by one-half as the old-fashioned view and its accessories. The modern folding camera can be easily slipped into a coat pocket and is almost instantly ready for use.

The 3 1/4-inch by 4 1/4-inch, and the cabinet-size folding cameras are the popular instruments for snapshots, ranging in price from $17 to $20. The many varieties of rapid paper such as Velox, Argo, etc., simplify photography and make it possible for a print of a finished picture to be had 20 minutes or less after pressing the camera button.

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BREWER – Miss Nellie M. Worth, teacher in the Brewer High School, sailed in the company of 13 other teachers in the White Star steamship Republic of Europe.

The party is composed of teachers who were successful in a voting contest recently conducted by the Boston American.

The Republic is due in Liverpool July 22. The teachers are to leave Liverpool by special train over the scenic Midland Railway to London, where they will visit every point of interest.

On July 28, the happy crowd will embark for Paris, the gayest and most beautiful of cities. Two of their five days in the capital city of France will be given over to long and delightful carriage rides.

The teachers will return to England on Aug. 2. They will visit Oxford, the great university city, and Shakespeare’s own home and birthplace, Stratford-on-Avon.

The party will leave Liverpool Aug. 5 and reach Boston on Aug. 14.

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BUCKSPORT – An electric storm of comparatively small area passed slightly to the south of the town this afternoon, concentrating its force over Verona Island.

But one heavy bolt was noticed and this struck the house of William Danforth on the Eastern Shore Road. The chimney was demolished and shingles torn off.

George Delano was knocked senseless and the other people in the house quite badly shocked. Mr. Delano recovered in a short time and except for a straining of his nerves, was uninjured.

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HAMPDEN – Mr. R.J. Arey of San Bernardino, Calif., Class of 1891, University of Maine, is visiting relatives in Hampden. Mr. Arey is a division engineer of the Santa Fe railroad, having 1,000 miles under his supervision.

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BUCKSPORT – The sloop Ida, Captain Alvah G. Door, arrived here on Thursday from a fishing trip down the bay with a cargo of fresh fish and scallops.

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BUCKSPORT – Miss Mary Delano, who is taking the training course for nurses at the Eastern Maine General Hospital at Bangor, is the guest of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Delano of Verona, for a few days.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin