10 years ago – May 25, 1996

(As reported in the Bangor Daily News)

ORONO – It has been more than 25 years since Madeleine Freeman got the “bright idea” to launch a career in public service that has been going strong ever since.

While the Vietnam War was continuing to stir up its own brand of turmoil on the University of Maine campus, the residents of Orono also were gearing up for a radical change in how they conducted town business. Government was becoming increasingly complicated at the small town level, with federal environmental programs demanding more time, energy and expertise from the handful of overwhelmed local officials.

The traditional selectman form of government, with its annual town meetings and baked bean caucuses, was no longer sufficient to handle the heavier workload. So in 1970, the people changed their charter and adopted their first seven-member town council.

Freeman, a civic-minded Orono housewife who was then president of the League of Women Voters of Maine, decided to run for one of the council’s three open seats. She was elected as the fledgling council’s first female member, and within two years became the chairperson.

Yet even as the former selectmen were easing into their new roles as councilors, they could become a befuddled lot when it came to the alien female presence in their midst. During meetings in the summer, for instance, the men would turn politely to Freeman and ask if she minded if they removed their suit jackets.

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BANGOR – Bangor High School junior right-hander Keith Dorr had just two-thirds of an inning of varsity pitching experience when he took the mound for his first start against Nokomis High School of Newport.

Bangor was playing its fourth game in three days and its pitching staff was depleted.

Dorr allowed just two earned runs over four innings for his first win, and his mates backed him with a 14-hit attack as the Rams overcame eight errors to beat the Warriors 12-5.

“I thought I pitched OK,” said Dorr, who admitted to being very nervous before the game. ” My fastball was my best pitch. I was hanging some of my curves.”

25 years ago – May 25, 1981

BANGOR – Most people drive by Atrium House in Bangor and never know it’s there.

There isn’t any sign proclaiming the red brick structure at 265 Hammond St. a group home and “last resort” for teens with emotional and behavioral problems.

Atrium House first opened its doors in 1976 according to Sandy Wells, current director.

The program offered there went through a couple of directors before settling down. Atrium House has become a place that offers “love, discipline and confrontation,” to the youth who live there, Wells said.

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LUCERNE-IN-MAINE – Familiar gray gravel and nascent-leafing maples frame a lake of cool blue water, but the voices floating from the wood-framed lodge are not so familiar. The melody and trill of rolling letters and strange syllables sound as fluid as the lake looks. A lesson in Spanish has just finished and the students exercise their proficiency with a language not their native tongue.

The May plan in Spanish is under way with 11 students and professor Gustavo Pellon speaking nothing but Spanish for two weeks. Lessons, discussions, Scrabble games, even shopping are done in Spanish.

While the language remains constant, there is an interesting diversity among the students.

Allison Muth, a senior at Hampden Academy, spent a year in a South American country; Mrs. Josee Vachon of Brownville Junction brings the music of her French heritage; Eric Pohl, a University of Maine student, spins spooky descriptions of his night scuba diving sessions in the lake where big logs looking like giant eels and boulders loom up like denizens of the deep; Laura Lunt of Orono has a doctoral degree in Arabic languages.

Peter O’Meara, a UM freshman, helps Pellon grade and correct compositions.

50 years ago – May 25, 1956

OLD TOWN – The vanguard of a 90-plane fleet destined for woods spraying in New Brunswick landed at Old Town, checked through Customs and took off again before sunset.

Arriving in groups of five to eight planes, 23 pilots in as many aircraft flew through 16-degree temperatures in open cockpits in the afternoon.

Assigned from all parts of Canada and the United States, the planes will start probably within a week to 10 days to spray an area 200 miles square in the Fredericton and Moncton area of New Brunswick.

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ALTON – Work on Alton’s new elementary school commenced June 11, George Barnes Sr., chairman of the school building committee, said.

Barnes said that volunteer labor on the project would keep the cost at $9,000, the sum appropriated at town meetings during the past decade for a school building fund. He added that no financial aid will be sought from the Maine School Building Authority.

The proposed 24-by-70-foot one-story wooden structure will have two 24-by30-foot classrooms, each accommodating 30 pupils, according to plans drawn up by Barnes, which are being submitted to the State Department of Education for final approval.

It is hoped that a full concrete basement, which will not be used by pupils, will become a community hall and town office site at some later date, Barnes said. The classrooms will have a total of 1,700 square feet of floor space. The front of the building will be made almost entirely of glass.

100 years ago – May 25, 1906

BUCKSPPORT – The catch of salmon on last night and today’s tide was up to the average. Decator Bridges, the Salmon King of the Penobscot River, took up to Bangor 32 fine ones that came mostly from the Verona weirs. Many are sold each day in town and shipped to Boston by boat.

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BUCKSPORT – The work is almost completed on and around the St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church. The grading has all been completed. The large rocks have all been removed, grass seed has been sowed everywhere and a great improvement has been made. A door is to be cut in the north side of the church, which will be a great addition to the comfort and beauty of the edifice.

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ORONO – The Prism, the annual publication of the junior class of the University of Maine, is of unusual merit this year. It is somewhat larger than those of previous years. The book is dedicated to the memory of professor Howard Scott Webb, who until his death was at the head of the electrical engineering department of the university.

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ORONO – The grounds about the high school building on Main Street have been somewhat improved. The girls furnished plants and the boys transplanted them under the direction of professor W.M. Munson. The school hopes to have a flag staff before Memorial Day, that their new flag, the gift of Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Webster, may be unfurled to the breeze.

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ORONO – Orono White Ribboners are looking forward with a great deal of interest to the coming Women’s Christian Temperance Union county convention which will convene in Orono May 31 and June 1. The meetings will be held in the Universalist Church on Main Street. Mrs. Lillian M.N. Stevens, national and state president, will preside at the meeting.

Compiled by Ardeana Hamlin