YESTERDAY …

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(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – July 24, 1998

KENDUSKEAG – A customized log cabin from a Kenduskeag manufacturer will be featured in a series of articles by the outdoor magazine Field & Stream, which is assembling and outfitting the cabin in the woods of south-central New York state.

Northeastern Log Homes is a manufacturer and seller of log homes that are shipped unassembled and put together by the buyers. The editors at Field & Stream hit upon the idea of featuring the construction of an affordable, basic cabin and conducted a national search for a supplier.

Northeastern Log Homes has been around since 1972, but only introduced the camp and cabin series last year. The concept – an offshoot of its more upscale log homes and post and beam products – has quickly caught on with sales growing more than $1 million.

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OLD TOWN – At times, on the shore of Mud Pond, it was hard to tell who was having the most fun – Penobscot County Deputy Paul Gaucher or the kids in his Hooked on Fishing program.

You had to admire the patience as he assisted his dozen young charges with their fishing poles, bobbers, sinkers, hooks and worms. There were tree branches, rod tips, a buddy’s line or backpack to contend with as the youngsters wrestled exuberantly to catch a fish.

It wasn’t long before squeals of glee resounded, as one after another youngster hooked a perch or a sunfish.

25 years ago – July 24, 1983

BANGOR – You could hear blues and folk singer Taj Mahal smile as he sang at Benjamin’s restaurant dining room – if you weren’t sitting in the recessed area of the room, if customers near the door weren’t talking and if the band in the bar downstairs hadn’t been playing so the floor rumbled with a rock ‘n’ roll beat.

None of the drawbacks seemed to bother most of the several hundred fans sitting shoulder to shoulder and standing, as if recreating a composite of the look of the late 1960s.

Ten-year-old hits sparked instant recognition in sing-alongs as Mahal, 41, relaxed into his second set.

His appearance in Bangor was part of a three-step package tour of Maine that included performances in Bar Harbor and Portland. The owners of small clubs pooled their resources to attract a performer of Mahal’s stature.

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BANGOR – Stephen King had no diabolical scheme in mind when he went about buying a radio station in Bangor.

But the horror fiction writer who lives in Bangor does have an image of plowing things under when he talked about buying WACZ radio.

With “wads of cash to juggle around,” King’s business adviser in New York, Arthur Greene, had been telling King and his wife, Tabitha, for the last two or three years to invest in real property for tax purposes, he said.

One alternative would have been to buy a New York apartment building that he would never see, King said. The Kings rejected that kind of business proposition.

The Bangor area is not static, and King said that with 2 percent growth WACZ, which has always run a little in the red, can turn a profit.

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HAMPDEN – Eight elementary school students will be the grand marshals for the Children’s Day parade on Aug. 13.

They were elected by their classmates to be Hampden junior municipal officials for the day.

They are: June Whitney, town councilor; John Miller, town councilor; Elizabeth Jackson, town manager; Jack Rushmore, police chief; Scott Smith, fire chief; Steve Henry, town councilor; Bill Connors, town councilor; and Andrea Stairs, town councilor.

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BANGOR – The passenger train from Boston will return to Bangor for the first time in 23 years. Not since 1960 when trains like the Flying Yankee, the Gull and the Penobscot were familiar sights at Union Station has a passenger train service been provided at Bangor, a spokesman for Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts Inc. said.

The special excursion train will leave North Station in Boston at 8 a.m. and arrive in Bangor later in the day. It will be the only one offered in Maine in 1983.

50 years ago – July 24, 1958

BANGOR – Mrs. Nellie Bowden of Grove Street counted the blossoms of her gloxinia plant, the pride of her home flowers. It has been in constant bloom for more than a month, with as many as 12 blossoms at one time, and never less than eight. This all transpired in two months’ time since the bulb was planted. More buds are on their way to replace the current blooms.

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BANGOR – A dream came to realization when the final bucket of cement was poured on the Dow Air Force Base 13,460-foot runway. The $12 million project, built by J.R. Cianchette of Pittsfield, will be completed by mid-September.

The long ribbon of runway has taken 219,000 cubic yards of cement, 2 million pounds of structural steel and 650,000 cubic yards of gravel.

Coins were flying thick and fast as the final cement was poured – it’s for good luck, “Shorty” Hirsch, chief inspector of the runway for the Corps of Engineers, said.

Hirsch said that it was traditional to toss one’s hat in the final flow of cement, but these days hats come high, and so coin of the realm is used to carry out the age-old engineering tradition.

100 years ago – July 24, 1908

BREWER – The many friends of Roderick Sutherland will be glad to learn that he is somewhat improved, though unable to be out. Mr. Sutherland was injured last week by being thrown from his carriage while driving along South Main Street near Dyer’s corner.

The accident was due to the fact that the tracks of the Bangor Railroad & Electric Co.’s road are very high and have not, it is claimed, been kept in much condition as to make crossing them in safety a possible thing.

By clinging to the reins when the carriage was overturned, Mr. Sutherland managed to control the horse and prevent injury to the vehicle. He was severely shaken and bruised, however, and for the past week has been confined to the house.

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BUCKSPORT – Walter R. Soper has just completed and delivered to H.A. Ryder of South Orrington a 20-foot power boat equipped with a 5-horsepower Soper engine. On her last trial trip she proved to be the fastest boat of her size and power now on the river.

The genealogy of the Homer family is being written and an agent of the publishing house is in town looking up the history of the family here, with a view of having the same published in the near future.

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HAMPDEN – George A. Cowan has opened a law office in the second story of the block owned by Frank Fogg, the barber.

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BUCKSPORT – Miss Sarah Cotton of Bucks Mills gave a lawn party at her home on July 16, it being in honor of her little niece, Josephine Smith. Those entertained were Mabel Stover, Lynwood Stover, Margaret Stover, Nancy Gross, Dora Gross, Harry Saunders, Ethel Saunders, Mrs. Alice Smith, Mrs. Lizzie Saunders and Estelle Perkins. Refreshments of cake, confectionery and lemonade were served on the lawn and all had a pleasant time.

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BREWER – Frank H. Nickerson has accepted a position as manager of the Panama Grange store in Broad Street in Bangor.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin