(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – April 12, 1997

BRADLEY – This week brought a changing of the guard at the town office. Town Manager Don Thompson finished packing up his belongings as his successor, William Post, prepared to move in.

Post, 25, was one of 14 applicants and this will be his first job as town manager.

Thompson has been town manager in Bradley since 1995. Among his legacies will be the town’s self-imposed budget cap and the replacement of the traditional New England-style town meeting with the referendum-style town meeting.

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NEWBURGH – Twenty years ago Jeff Andrews’ boyish good looks and clear tenor voice would have made him the next David Cassidy. But in this the age of grunge rock and rapper wars, he’s just a guy with a guitar, looking to see the other side of Wednesday. Andrews, 27, bills himself as a solo artist who plays “turbulent acoustic music” and travels around New England performing and promoting his first CD, “Josias River.”

Raised in Newburgh, the youngest child of Dr. Robert Andrews and “Bunny” Haggan, Jeff Andrews graduated from Hampden Academy in 1988, and began his freshman year at Tufts University in Boston that fall intent on becoming a TV sportscaster.

25 years ago – April 12, 1982

BREWER – Barry Ivers, Brewer’s ageless sprinter, has gotten off to a considerably faster start than Maine’s other track and field enthusiasts still looking for dry outdoor tracks and their own cure for cabin fever.

Ivers, 71, set what is believed to be a world record for his age group (70-74) by sprinting 100 yards in 13.2 seconds during the Tampa Bay Track and Field Meet in Florida on April 13.

Although the record has yet to be confirmed by The Athletics Congress, which regulates amateur track and field events, Ivers fully expects to find his name in the TAC’s book of records next year.

Ivers trained a few times this winter at the University of Maine field house, but got in shape for the Tampa meet by riding a bicycle during a two-week visit before the event.

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CASTINE – Admiral Harold Edson Shear, U.S. Navy Retired, United States Maritime Administrator, will deliver the commencement address at Maine Maritime Academy.

Shear retired from the U.S. Navy as a four-star admiral in 1980 after 30 years of service.

Ceremonies for the academy’s 39th graduating class will be held at the Oakey Logan Alexander Field House, where 138 senior midshipmen will receive bachelor of science degrees, 80 in marine engineering and 58 in nautical science. Those students who have met the requirements will be sworn in as third officers in the U.S. Merchant Marine and as ensigns in the U.S. Naval Reserve. Three midshipmen for the NROTC program will leave for active duty immediately as ensigns.

50 years ago – April 12, 1957

BANGOR – Mr. and Mrs. Emerson E. Ross of Ohio Street had a double celebration this week. It was their 60th wedding anniversary and the first birthday of their next-to-youngest great-grandchild, Kerry Haines.

Despite the fact that they have 29 great-grandchildren, Mr. and Mrs. Ross are just as keenly interested in their great-grandchild of 20 days, as they were in their first grandchild. The couple also have 42 grandchildren and eight children.

Both were born in May, Mr. Ross on May 17, 1872, in Carmel, and Mrs. Ross on May 20, 1880, in Levant. They were married in 1897 in Levant by C.W. Fernald, justice of the peace.

Mrs. Ross found little time for her own interests when her family was growing up. “It took most of my time just cooking,” she said.

Now that she has more time to herself, Mrs. Ross spends a lot of time playing beano, her favorite pastime. She also likes television, especially cowboys and Oral Roberts.

Mr. Ross retired from his life’s work of farming several years ago. It was then that he and Mrs. Ross went to live with their daughter, Miss Lillian Ross. He doesn’t like television but enjoys the radio and never misses a news broadcast because he likes to keep up with the changing times. Aside from the news programs he likes “The Lone Ranger.”

100 years ago – April 12, 1907

BANGOR – We wish to announce that our hacking business for the coming spring and summer is better equipped than ever. Our carriages are newly painted and renovated and our horses are in excellent condition.

We have the best of telephone service, being connected with Mr. Abel Hunts’ undertaking establishment as our office, which has a telephone in service day and night, which reaches us promptly. The telephone number is 564-2.

Our residence is connected by telephone, which has a night gong attached, assuring one of prompt attention, telephone number 574-1. Our stable, under the name of Mrs. Martha Nichols, can be reached readily, telephone number 827-14.

We furnish hacks for weddings, funerals, parties, theaters, boats, trains (to and from); and landaus furnished for driving parties and making calls, by the hour. Our carriages also open when one so desires.

Our prices are very reasonable. We do all our own driving and attend to all orders personally.

We have added a new Berlin Coach to our equipment which is in use daily.

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SOUTH BREWER – The Southworth brothers are telling the champion crow story of the season. They say that they found a place out back of Orrington where the crows were so thick that the sky was black with them. They fired three shots and brought down nine crows with those three shots and might have hauled in a cartload. There was a man who didn’t believe their story and they sent him down the nine crows just to show they are men of truth.

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BANGOR – E.B. Coffin of Portland accepted the plans of architect Victor Hodgins of Bangor for a handsome colonial dwelling to be erected in the Forest City sometime in the spring. The contemplated house is a novel and beautiful structure and the plans are a testimonial to Mr. Hodgin’s skill. The building is a two-story, 10-room structure.

On the first floor is a reception hall, sitting room and parlor. The latter room opens into a large dining room. In the rear is a kitchen equipped in the modern style. A toilet adjoins the kitchen. In the basement is a laundry, with set-tubs and furnace room.

Four large bedrooms are on the second floor and a bathroom is located at the front of the house. Three rooms for servants are in the attic and here a bath also is provided. The house will be finished with cypress and the floors of hardwood.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin

WEEKLY, PAGE 5

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