(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – Feb. 1, 1997

BANGOR – Zachary Veilleux has an angel, but instead of wings and a halo, Zach’s angel sports running shoes and Brewer High School letter jacket.

That 17-year-old Tom Dwyer Jr. was awake just past midnight, that he didn’t shrug off the child’s cries as just another cat fight, and that he spent Wednesday night with his father and grandmother in Bangor amount to more than just coincidences to Zachary’s parents, Jeff and Marilyn Veilleux.

On Wednesday evening, Dwyer, a high school senior, was settling in for a night’s sleep when he heard what sounded to him like cats fighting.

As the sound drew closer, he looked out the second-story window of his grandmother’s Maple Street house and saw a small child running down the street barefoot, clad only in a white T-shirt and animal-print pajama bottoms.

For reasons that remained unclear to Zach’s parents, the 5-year-old left the warmth of his bed, opened the front door, and struck off – by himself – down the street.

The child somehow had slipped out of the Veilleux home undetected. The family dog, which escorts family members to bed each night, sounded no alarm that something was amiss.

25 years ago – Feb. 1, 1982

BUCKSPORT – What will Bucksport look like in the year 2100?

According to 17 students at Bucksport High School, the town will have a geodesic dome, a military airstrip and missile silos, and an agricultural district capable of producing food for the town’s 40,000-50,000 residents.

The students in Bob Cloutier’s World of Tomorrow class have designed and produced a scale model of this futuristic town. Drawing their ideas from written studies of the future discussed in class, the 17 juniors and seniors envision a world of high technology whose politics will be heavily influenced by today’s survivalist movement.

According to David Webster, co-coordinator of the project, Bucksport in 2100, like most other towns, will be a city-state.

The dome in the model was constructed by Rob Howard.

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HAMPDEN – The noon whistle blew, the customer window was shut, the cash box was put into the safe, and the Hampden Highlands Post Office closed for good.

However, a new post office will open Monday to serve all local customers from one building with one zip code, 04444. Town residents will have the opportunity to visit the new facility on Routes 9 and 202 on Feb. 20.

The last few minutes in the post office were busy as some townsfolk indulged in one last moment of conversation on world affairs. Customers picked up keys for their new post office boxes and stamp collectors waited to get one final postmark as a collector’s item.

The postal workers went to work with their moving chores as soon as the office closed. There was no celebration.

50 years ago – Feb. 1, 1957

BANGOR – Volunteer workers and staff members at the headquarters of the Penobscot County Chapter of the American Red Cross at 104 Hammond St. have been exceptionally busy the last few days. They have been packing clothing donated to the chapter to be sent to Camp Kilmer, N.J., for Hungarian relief.

Herbert Wedgewood, executive secretary of the chapter, said the response to the appeal for such help has been tremendous. Clothing has been sent to Red Cross headquarters from Millinocket, Lincoln, Orono, Dexter, Newport, Bangor and Brewer.

While the past appeal has been for men’s suits, topcoats and overcoats, National Red Cross headquarters has now requested women’s skirts, sweaters and blouses in “new looking” condition. The drive for such clothing will continue as long as the need exists. At the present time, said Wedgewood, refugees are being processed at Camp Kilmer at the rate of 500 per day. The Red Cross is providing new underwear and shoes to these people.

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BANGOR – A legislator proposed to limit the horsepower of new cars operated on Maine highways after 1957.

Rep. Totman of Bangor said he will file next week a bill setting the limit of 350 horsepower – 40 under the most powerful 1957 car.

To the best of his knowledge, Totman said, no other state has attempted such a limitation.

Totman said he would set a “finish line” on what he referred to as “the automotive industry’s horsepower race, a vicious, competitive advantage game of leap frog.”

Totman, Republican majority floor leader of the House, is an executive of a fertilizer firm. He told a newsman that automobiles and their engines have been his hobby since boyhood.

Safety-minded officials, Totman said, have been little concerned by changes in style, color or even in the necessary physical exertion on the part of the driver.

“Boosting top speeds, however, from the illegal 80 miles an hour to suicidal 130-150 mph maximums is sheer ignoring of responsibility if allowed to continue unprotested and unchecked,” he said. “The time has come for [Maine] to reach for the reins and pull in the runaway horsepower.”

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BANGOR – Two Bangor policemen will attend a two-week course of training in traffic control at Northeastern University, Boston, Chief John B. Toole announced.

Patrolmen Glenn W. Stevens and Russell D. Maxsimic will represent the local department in the program.

Tuition for one officer will be provided by the Esso Safety Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to highway safety. The scholarship was arranged by Frank O. Smart of Bangor, a local representative of the organization. Tuition for the other officer will be paid by the city.

100 years ago – Feb. 1, 1907

CASTINE – J. Fred Jones and wife started for Boston on Thursday. While there, they will select the spring styles for their millinery department.

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CASTINE – William H. Hooper is having his house piped for gas. Mr. Frank Rea has contracted with Mr. Hooper for the work.

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BUCKSPORT – The open time on trout and salmon commences today, Feb. 1, and numerous parties are arranging for trips to the ponds and lakes in the vicinity. Among the first to leave the village were Henry Jellison and Jay Lee, who went to Craig’s Pond where they will be on hand to try the trout and salmon with which the pond is well-stocked. There are several parties from Bangor that are expected here this week to fish in these waters, as last year one Bangor party made the record catch of the year.

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ORONO – Charles A. Morse of Topeka, Kan., a graduate of the University of Maine, is visiting his parents and sister in Bangor. Mr. Morse made civil engineering his specialty. On leaving college he went to Texas and Mexico and has had constant employment ever since. He has held important positions on the Santa Fe system for years and his advancement has been without interruption from year to year, until Mr. Morse holds the important and responsible position of chief engineer of 6,000 miles of the Santa Fe system with headquarters in Topeka, Kan.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin