(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – Oct. 30, 1998

BANGOR – Ten bidders registered for the auction of a 315-acre property in Hampden and Bangor, with the winning offer submitted by a next-door neighbor.

Freightliner of Maine Inc., a truck dealership located at 422 Perry Road, will pay $560,000 for the Ammo Industrial Park on Odlin Road, a property bounded partially by Interstate 95 and Route 222.

The property, originally used for ammunition storage by the military, includes 10,000 feet of internal roadways, 164 rental storage units and 17 concrete, masonry and metal-frame storage buildings.

Those registered to bid included a representative of L.L. Bean of Freeport.

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VEAZIE – A little bit of Veazie is moving to Bangor – 1053 School St., to be exact.

It’s the third incarnation of the 11-year-old ranch house. Once the summer home of an elderly Veazie couple, it recently changed hands to the town and again to Duke Energy Power Services, whose officials wanted it out of the way of an access road to the $221 million power plant.

Now it’s a home again.

With a deadline of Halloween to start work on the road, Duke donated the house to the Bangor chapter of Habitat for Humanity. The organization selected the assistant manager of a local restaurant and her two young daughters to live there.

25 years ago – Oct. 29, 1983

BANGOR – Halloween is a mixture of fear and fun. Children put on frightful costumes and pound on our doors, hoping to scare the daylights out of us when we open them. We recoil with fear and give the tykes goodies.

Adults remember the fears of childhood, though, and gain new fears.

We asked some well-known Mainers what their greatest fears were; what frightened them the most.

Tabitha King of Bangor, a writer, and wife of Stephen King, who writes about fear, said, “I’m scared of nuclear weapons. I’m not scared a lot. I’m relatively fearless. I’m not afraid of spiders, snakes or things that go bump in the night. Ghosts are harmless. The only thing they can do is scare you. I don’t believe the dead walk. As soon as you’re dead, you lose all your muscle tone. You can’t do exercises anymore. I don’t believe in vampires or werewolves or anything like that.”

Sister Mary Norberta, administrator of St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor, said one of her fears is for the safety of youngsters at Halloween. “The holiday used to be very wholesome and didn’t hold any fear for a child. Today, parents have to exercise a great deal of caution by making sure whatever children get in the trick or treat bags is safe.”

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HAMPDEN – Hampden Community Playschool students Sarah Love, Gregory Ociepka, Nicholas Ohler, Sean Ociepka and Jeremy Randall helped display items that will be on sale at the Alpha Sigma Harvest Fair, which will benefit the play school. A featured item at the fair will be a filled toy chest stenciled by Kathy Rushmore of Hampden.

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ORONO – A new fire pumper ordered in February is expected to arrive in Orono.

Acting Fire Chief Gary Robichaud and firefighter Lorin LeCleire traveled by airplane to Appleton, Wis., to pick up the new truck. The Pierce Suburban-1000 will be tested next week in Orono before it is certified for duty.

The manufacturer is expected to send an engineer to Orono to participate in the testing of the $92,000 machine.

Firefighters are expected to get at least 20 years of use out of the Pierce. It will be equipped with a 1,000-gallon water tank, and will be able to pump 1,000 gallons per minute when drawing from a hydrant.

50 years ago – Oct. 29, 1958

BANGOR – Bangor’s Halloween celebration was assured of an eerie look for a parade of ghosts as 202 artists signed up for the window painting contest.

The parade will form on the Broadway Mall. The mounted unit will form in front of John Bapst High School, and Albert E. Noyes, recreation director, announced that anyone with a horse or pony could enter this section of the parade.

The parade route will be down State Street to Harlow Street to Central Street and up Main Street to Water Street. Then through Pickering Square to Broad, Hammond and State streets, turn right at Exchange Street to Hancock and Oak Streets and back to the Mall, where prizes will be awarded for the best original costumes and floats.

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BANGOR – A neighborhood organization meeting for the four new Girl Scout and Brownie Troops being formed this fall for the first time in a number of years in St. John’s School was held in the home of the neighborhood chairwoman, Mrs. Carl E. Libby, 79 Leighton St.

Approximately 100 girls have signified their interest in joining the troops.

Troop leaders are Mrs. Thomas P. Mooney, Mrs. Robert E. Murray, Mrs. Louis Gagnon, Mrs. John E. Constantine, Mrs. Chester Moore, Mrs. Philip Veilleux, Mrs. Edward A. Duchemin, Mrs. Lawrence E. Shaw, Mrs. Camille E. Caron and Mrs. Leo F. Miller.

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ORONO – Cheerleaders Anne Rosebush, Carolyn Fenderson, Kathy Gardiner, Clarise Graham, Sandra Westerman, Mary Stinchfield, Ann Farnsworth and Barbara Willett kept the spirit of the Orono Red Riots high this fall with their rooting and helped cheer Bill Folsom’s crew to a record 3-4 for the season.

100 years ago – Oct. 29, 1908

ORONO – An immense lumber deal was closed by two young men formerly of Orono and graduates of the University of Maine. The Merrill Bros. of Saxon, Wash., have sold their big tract of timberland to a Michigan lumber king, whose name was not disclosed. The following clipping was taken from a Washington paper:

The largest timber deal in this county so far this year occurred when Merrill Bros. sold their entire holdings of 200 million feet for $325,000. The deed covers 3,120 acres of ground divided into 191/2 claims. Fenton and True Merrill came to Whatcom County from Orono more than 20 years ago. For the past 11 years they have been accumulating the tract of timber which they sold.

The Merrill brothers said they will retire from the timber world.

Fenton and True Merrill are sons of the late Dexter and Mary J. Merrill, who moved from Lee to Orono to educate their children. Fenton graduated from the University of Maine in 1887 and True in 1891.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin