(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

10 years ago – July 14, 1995

ORONO – Councilors were informed at this week’s council meeting that the $1.9 million Public Safety Building now under construction will not meet its Aug. 15 completion date.

The contractor, Perry and Morrill of Bangor, has asked the town for a two-week extension on its contract, according to Town Manager Gerald Kempen. He said a portion of the delay could be attributed to change orders from the town for added work not necessarily planned.

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HAMPDEN – After a half-decade of not seeing eye-to-eye, negotiators for the SAD 22 administration and its teachers brought different approaches to the bargaining table this year.

The result was a new three-year contract for the teachers and, both sides agreed, a better understanding of each other’s needs and wants, as well as a mutual respect which all parties hope will continue into the future.

25 years ago – July 14, 1980

HOLDEN – Moving swiftly to fill the void created by Sandy Smith, Holden’s board of selectmen announced that Eddington Town Manager Glenn Wilson was chosen as Smith’s successor.

Wilson, who has an intimate working knowledge of Holden because of several shared functions of the neighboring towns, such as fire protection and recreation activities, told the Eddington board of selectmen of his hiring by Holden on Friday.

Smith resigned from his Holden position and accepted appointment as Bangor’s code enforcement officer.

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BANGOR – The aviation divisions of the U.S. Air Force, the Air and Army National Guard, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps invited Bangor area residents to catch a glimpse of where servicemen work. Some 25,000 people responded and the 101st Refueling Wing complex of the Maine Air National Guard at Bangor International Airport assumed a carnival-like atmosphere complete with cotton candy.

The highlight of the open house was an aerial display by the Canadian Forces CF-101 “Voodoo” flight team. The fighter jets flew in tight formation, performed rapid dips, twirls and dives and generally had the children on the field yelling with fingers pointed in the air before being drowned out by the roar of the engines.

50 years ago – July 14, 1955

ORONO – The annual battle between the beavers and the town’s water suppliers has broken out again.

John Murray, superintendent of the local water company, reported that despite the vigilance of the company a family of beavers had slipped in and built its own dams, cutting off the town’s water supply temporarily.

The beavers built a dam on top of one of the company’s storage dams on Chemo Stream. This cut off the flow of water from Chemo Pond to the town.

Action was taken by the water company and the architectural works of the beavers was demolished. Murray is keeping a wary eye on the four-footed dam builders until a Fish and Game Department warden comes along to move them to some other spot.

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CASTINE – Capt. Henry W. Devereaux of Castine, veteran 68-year-old sailing master, offered to bet a peck of clams that he and his all-women crew would defeat Capt. William Black of Northeast Harbor in the fourth annual Maine Retired Skippers’ Race to be held Sept. 10 in Eggemoggin Reach.

Captain Black and his male crew, who have won the race two years in succession, will gain permanent possession of the Capt. Henry Whitney Challenge Cup if they win this year’s sailboat contest.

Devereaux’s crew includes his wife, Charlene; Mrs. Eleanor Fairley, wife of Cmdr. Arthur Fairley of Maine Maritime Academy at Castine; and Miss Betty Taylor, also of Castine.

The Maine Retired Skippers’ Race was started four years ago as a result of the “clam digger insult” that appeared in a Bucksport newspaper. The contest was on after a Bucksport sea captain referred to Deer Island sailors as “shallow water yachtsmen, lobstermen and clam diggers.”

Capt. Phillip Haskell of Deer Isle won the first race from Capt. Frank Delano of Bucksport.

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BANGOR – “The Eastern Maine General Hospital provides more free hospital care than any other hospital of its size, and the private patient has reached the limit of what he should be required to pay to make up the cost of free service.”

These two thoughts Frank Curran, director of EMGH, left with the Bangor-Brewer Lions Club when he spoke at their regular luncheon meeting in the Penobscot Hotel.

Nearly 11,200 patients were admitted to the hospital during the year ending July 1, and of these, almost 2,000 were not charged either for professional or hospital services, Curran said. One-third of those admitted were not charged for any medical service, he added.

Curran told the Lions that the hospital rendered $214,000 of free care out of a total income of $1,700,000. It cost $1,575,000 to operate the hospital and if everyone paid in full the hospital would show a profit of $132,000.

The average cost per day for a patient at EMGH is $16.30. That cost is broken down in this manner: $1.50 administrative; $2.91, dietary; $1.38, housekeeping; $1.54, plant; $4.02, nursing; $4.95, professional. The professional service charges include operating room, blood bank, laboratory, X-ray and pharmacy.

There was a minor disturbance during the luncheon when a whole gang of Davy Crocketts held up the members with guns and collected $12.45. It was all a gag and had something to do with a film about the Tennessee hero arriving in Bangor Saturday.

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ORONO – Dr. Vernon W. Tozer of Orono, a graduate of the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, will open an office at 27 State St. for the practice of dentistry.

The son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Tozer of 66 Pine St., Orono, he is a graduate of Orono High School. He served four years with the U.S. Army, including a tour of duty in Italy. He graduated from the University of Maine in 1951 and from Tufts University in 1955.

Dr. and Mrs. Tozer, the former Pauline Virgie of Orono, will make their home at 33 Mill St.

100 years ago – July 14, 1905

ORLAND – New rails have been put in position in front of the Congregational church. The work was done by Harry Ames of Bucksport.

The young men who participated in the damage done to the Congregational church the night before the Fourth are settling the matter up with Lawyer Fellows of Bucksport.

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BUCKSPORT – The schooner Robert W., Capt. Brackett, arrived in port from Mt. Waldo with a cargo of cut granite for the Cleveland, Ohio, post office. The stone will be shipped to Cleveland over the Maine Central railroad.

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BANGOR – Remember that all through the hot weather, the skating rink in the auditorium is the coolest place in Bangor. The big building is from 8 to 10 degrees cooler than the atmosphere outside, and owing to that fact is an ideal place of amusement. A punch stand has been placed in the building and in the future, nobody need want for a cool drink of lemonade.

The regular concerts of the Brewer band will be given every night. The rink has among its patrons hundreds of businessmen who find the sport ideal exercise. The number of lady patrons is steadily increasing.

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HAMPDEN – Talk about the weather – are you aware that one of the coolest places in or near town is Riverside Park, and one of the best shows offered at any summer theater is the attraction of the week? It is exclusively a vaudeville entertainment with five novel, original and clever turns.

With the cool car ride as an additional incentive on these scorching days and nights, it is not surprising that the capacity of the rustic theater at almost every performance is severely tested.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin