(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – July 27, 1996

BANGOR – In the wake of the crash of TWA Flight 800, officials at Bangor International Airport met to discuss new Federal Aviation Administration guidelines.

The tighter airport security measures include more questioning of passengers in check-in lines and more inspection of carry-on baggage.

Bob Ziegelaar, BIA manager, said he could not discuss specific changes in security at the airport, but acknowledged that they are being made.

.

ORONO – The horrors of censorship are the agenda at a University of Maine conference on reading the work of Stephen King.

Workshops and presentations at the Reading Stephen King conference include a look at the places of King’s work and other popular literature in the classroom and the issue of student choice.

Topics include “Before and After the Fall: The Passage from Childhood to Adulthood in King’s ‘It,'” “Morality in the Horror Fiction of Stephen King,” “Screams and Whispers: Redemption through Friendship in Selected Works of Stephen King,” and “How Patrick Buchanan Would Read Stephen King.”

Some educators consider King’s popular horror books a good way to get “reluctant readers” interested in books. But some school boards have banned his books from required reading lists.

25 years ago – July 27, 1981

HAMPDEN – It isn’t always easy to address a political meeting. But that is what the chief editorial writer of the NEWS did when he spoke to the membership of the Penobscot County Democratic Committee at the Hampden Town Hall.

“Soon there will be no typewriters at the NEWS because of the transition from ‘hard’ copy to software – the use of video display terminals (television screens equipped with keyboards) for editing and writing,” Reynolds said.

.

BANGOR – The cheerful dining scene done by Fifth Street Junior High School pupils Lisa Standley, Mike Lewis, Sue Roberts, Tracy Harriman, Eddie Tucker, Alice Spencer and Kevin Chase is finally in place above La Cucina restaurant on Exchange Street.

Its position was in doubt at one time and it looked as though the year’s designing and painting efforts of the pupils were for naught when the sign ran up against zoning size regulations. However, after a meeting by city officials, a waiver was granted and the 8-foot-by-14-foot painting, done in the pupils’ spare time as an art project under the guidance of their art teacher Mrs. Donna Johnson, was put in place over the restaurant.

.

BANGOR – The 4-H is more than cows and cooking, said spokeman Beth Parks. Most 4-H members are gearing up for the Bangor State Fair.

They have worked up a fun-filled program which includes a blueberry pie-eating contest with local disc jockeys, a story telling contest, a manure pitch-off and a mate-calling contest.

50 years ago – July 27, 1956

ORONO – “Don’t lose those Maine words. They are too good to let go,” said Dr. Wilbert Snow, noted Maine poet and former governor of Connecticut, during a University of Maine summer session assembly.

Dr. Snow spoke about the many words and phrases that 50 years ago immediately identified a speaker as a Maine resident.

The former professor of English at Wesleyan University, speaking at the Little Theater, lamented the disappearance of distinctive Down East words and urged his audience, composed largely of Maine school teachers, to preserve the colorful colloquialisms of the area.

.

BANGOR – Lt. Gen. Thomas W. Herron, commanding general of the First Army, and Maj. Gen. Nathaniel S. Burnell, commanding general of the AAA units, attended groundbreaking ceremonies of the new Army Reserve training center to be constructed on outer Union Street, opposite the first gate of Dow Air Force Base.

The Rev. Charles E. Dartnell will officiate at the opening ceremonies, followed by an address by Lt. Gen. Herron. The closing benediction will be given by the Rev. Peter P. Gorham.

100 years ago – July 27, 1906

BUCKSPORT – James H. Jones, who bought the farm just below Verona Park, is having his cottage remodeled. He will have the farm divided into cottage lots to place upon the market. It is reported that several have been sold to parties who will erect cottages this season. This is one of the most desirable sites upon the island.

.

BANGOR – The paper box factory of Charles D. Pressey on the French Street side of the Parker and Peaks shoe factory has been sold to Frank H. Drummond of Third Street.

The factory will be managed by Henry Drummond, Mr. Drummond’s eldest son. He is an electrical engineer who for the past few years has been living in Schenectady, N.Y. Mr. Drummond graduated from the University of Maine and was prominent in musical circles.

The Pressey business is known throughout New England and the present factory is the result of steady and swift development. Mr. Pressey started the business 18 years ago on what is known as the old “woodstand” on Hammond Street.

The business soon outgrew those quarters and he moved to Columbia Street, where he occupied a three-story brick building. Soon, however, another enlargement was necessary and the business was transferred to the present big modern factory building on French Street next door to the shoe factory.

.

BUCKSPORT – William Farnum, the actor, who with his company are now in Cleveland, Ohio, will close their season this month. Mr. Farnum will then take a much-needed rest and occupy his farm on Verona for a few weeks.

.

BUCKSPORT – Walter R. Soper is quite busy at his machine shop on Main Street. He is now building a 22-foot Swampscot dory for Willis Dorr of Bangor, who will have it equipped with a 5-horsepower Anderson engine. Mr. Soper installed a 11/2-horsepower Palmer gasoline engine last week in Tracy Eldridge’s boat.

.

BUCKSPORT – The merry-go-round was removed from the ball grounds on Central Street to Soper’s grove, Orland, the first of July where it was in full operation for the Fourth of July.

.

BUCKSPORT – At the sale of trimmed hats by Mrs. Coy of Bangor here Saturday, a few remained unsold. Mrs. Coy decided not to take them back to Bangor and will place them on sale at L.C. Davis’s store for one day only. The price is $1.25.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin