(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – Nov. 16, 1996

ORONO – Expectations continue to be heaped on Cindy Blodgett with increasing frequency as she improves as a player and matures as a student and team leader for the University of Maine women’s basketball team.

Black Bears coach Joanne Palombo-McCallie wants more out of her junior-year floor leaders this season, but not in the scoring column. Now that she has been named one of three team captains, Blodgett’s responsibilities have increased.

Blodgett can score, and often does so at will. UMaine’s crafty point guard led all of Division I basketball last season as a sophomore, connecting for 27.8 points per game. But Blodgett’s progress now will be measured more by her ability to become a more effective playmaker, rebounder and defender, in addition to exhibiting her scoring prowess and exceptional ball-handling skills.

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CASTINE – Every other Tuesday, they arise at 5 a.m., eager to begin nudging and tugging an unwieldy leviathan many times their size around the head of Penobscot Bay.

For 12 hours at a time, the tight-knit crew of Maine Maritime Academy classmates practices the delicate art of commandeering a 1,400-ton barge using a 170-ton tugboat and loads of nervous energy.

By all accounts, the “Tug and Barge Operations” course is a hot ticket among students who resort to desperate measures such as camping out overnight to make sure they can register.

According to instructor Tim Leach, the course, which was inaugurated in the mid-1980s, is limited to seniors, and was the first such offering in the nation.

25 years ago – Nov. 16, 1981

BANGOR – Opera New England outdid itself at Peakes Auditorium with Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville.” If the production erred at all, it was on the side of slightly exaggerating the comedic facets. There is plenty of fun in the old piece, but it is best to let the situations – and the music – make their points unobtrusively. Forcing the humor merely leads to the ridiculous, especially when the drollery is thin in any case.

The performance was dedicated to Marian Vafiades, whose indefatigability carried the opera banner here.

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BANGOR – There are cheerleaders and team boosters, but when it comes to raising the general level of excitement at a football game, nobody can compete with a marching brass band.

The Bangor High School Band was in full swing during the battle of the Rams at Bangor’s Garland Street Field. As the band played on, Bangor dealt the Deering Rams of Portland a lethal blow with a final overtime score of 12-6. The day was sunny at 47 degrees with a light wind that carried the notes of the band’s brass section down Mount Hope Avenue. The band is expected to accompany the Bangor Rams when they face Portland at Bates College for the state championship.

50 years ago – Nov. 16, 1956

HAMPDEN – An automobile owned by a Hampden woman rolled out of its parking space in the Abbott Square Annex early Thursday morning, plunged over a steep embankment and sank in about 8 feet of water.

The salvage operations conducted by local firemen and police attracted hundreds of spectators. Two wrecker trucks with the assistance of the police boat were needed to bring the sedan back to shore.

The vehicle is owned by an employee at the Armed Forces recruiting stations on Harlow Street.

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ORONO – Forty-six members of Theta Chi fraternity scurried to safety but 33 lost nearly all their personal belongings as fire destroyed their house on the University of Maine campus.

The actual loss was estimated in excess of $60,000 with campus officials adding that the large structure on the north end of campus could not be replaced for less than $100,000. Cause of the spectacular blaze that broke out at 3:25 a.m. was not immediately known.

A tragedy was possibly averted because a “Hell Week” event had been in progress and practically everyone in the house was awake.

100 years ago – Nov. 16, 1906

BANGOR – Bangor builders were never so busy as this year, for the building fever has had a great run here, notwithstanding the high prices of materials and the advance in wages. From early spring, every mechanic and laborer available has been steadily employed, and more could have found work. The principal buildings begun or finished this year are the new Maine Central passenger station and auxiliary structures, the buildings of the Eastern Steam Ship Co., the Sterns, Merrill Trust Co., the Graham, Merchants National Bank and Dickey buildings, the Tarratine Club house and the Center Street school. Of these, only the Dickey building and the Eastern Steam Ship Co.’s buildings, the latter begun last year, are completed, most of the others requiring months yet to finish.

The new railroad station, said to be the handsomest and most convenient in any city of Bangor’s size in New England, may be ready in January, but this is doubtful. The station building itself is completed as to exterior with the exception of the spire on the tower and the awning on the south side.

The Graham building on Central Street has been delayed by non-arrival of materials, but it will be roofed in so that work may proceed during the winter. Architecturally the building is handsome, a vast improvement in that part of the city, and in construction it is solid as a fort. Otto Nelson is the contractor.

Besides the downtown structures, about 75 dwellings – possibly more – have been built. While it is difficult as yet to make an accurate estimate, it is roughly calculated that the total cost of new construction and repairs will exceed $1 million.

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CASTINE – Schooner James M. Morales in tow of Steamer Castine, Captain Coombs, went ashore on the rocks of Johnson Narrows. The Narrows at the point are very dangerous and require careful management in order to secure safe passage.

The schooner is an old-time coal vessel and was bound for Penobscot with a load of staves.

It is thought that after removing her deck cargo that she will be floated today. As no news of her has reached us since the morning tide, we conclude she is still on the rocks.

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SOUTH ORRINGTON – A very pleasant occasion was had when about 75 Odd Fellows and Rebekahs gathered at their new hall at Orrington for the regular business meetings. The Rebekahs gave an entertainment – each sister passed over her dollar pledged a few months ago for the purpose of helping defray expenses. Each sister was asked to relate in rhyme the story of how she earned her dollar. Some proved themselves quite poets, and it is suggested that they earn their next dollars by writing poems to sell.

The first to respond was Mrs. Blake with her story of the spring pig. Miss Maria George gave the story of the worsted shawl that attended the music festival. Miss Bartlett gave a real poetical gem about the common things of life done with spirit that make life one poetical dream. And last, but not least, Mattie Kendall found poetry among the weeds.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin