100 Years Ago – March 1, 1923
County over the top — Cooperative marketing landed safely with a margin of some thousands to spare. Figures compiled by H. F. McGlauflin, Secretary of the local Cooperative Marketing Campaign Committee, showed the aggregate of signers in the County to be a fraction over 54,000. Presque Isle at the time of writing was credited with 4033 acres.
75 Years Ago – Feb. 26, 1948
Blackwell named foul shot tourney — Billy Blackwell, rugged Presque Isle guard, received the championship trophy for the second annual Sunday Telegram-Boston Garden foul shooting contest from Robert B. Beith, managing editor of the Guy P. Gannett newspapers in Portland. Present during the trophy presentation were Bud Cornish, sports editor of the Portland Sunday Telegram and originator of the tournament, and Ken Long, WGAN announcer.
Bishop Sherrill spoke on Sunday — The Rt. Rev. Henry K. SHerrill, presiding Bishop of the U.S. Episcopal church, United States of America, did a broadcast over 600 radio stations including WAGM, Sunday afternoon at 4:50 p.m. Aroostook people were able and had the opportunity to hear Bishop Sherrill speak.
50 Years Ago – Feb. 28, 1973
J-S purchased Caribou firm — Jules Salzbank, president of J-S Industries, Inc., announced Thursday, Feb. 22, that the company had entered into an agreement with certain principal stockholders of American Kitchen Foods, Inc., to purchase all of the outstanding common stock, preferred stock, debentures and warrants of American Kitchen Foods, Inc. According to Salzbank, an offer to purchase these securities at prices set forth in an agreement which was being mailed to all security holders of the company. Among these, it was required that at least 90 percent of the outstanding securities of common and preferred stock and warrants should have been tendered to J-S Industries, Inc.
Mars Hill defeated Calais in Class C — Coach Keenan’s smooth Central Aroostook basketball team hung up their second Class C Eastern Maine tournament game Feb. 20 as they downed a pesky Calais team 84 to 77. At times, the Panthers held what seemed a comfortable lead, but then the Washington County Club would rally and cut the lead down. Once in the last period, they drew to within three points. The Mars Hill outfit shot very well and the scoring was fairly well divided among the starters, though Terry Weeks paced the winners with 28 markers. Bell had 18, Allen 13, Murphy 12 and Watson 11. The Panthers held a 28 to 21 lead at the close of the opening frame and led 51 to 40 at the half. The winners held a seven point bulge at the three-quarter mark 65-58. This win enabled the Mars Hill club to advance to the finals against a big, strong Summer outfit.
25 Years Ago – March 4, 1998
Advanced to State competition — Fourteen Aroostook County youths qualified for the Maine Recreation and Parks Association’s state hotshot competition in Orono. The regional event was held at Caribou High School, with the top two finishers from seven age categories advancing. Those qualifying were Justin Stewart, Dustin Edwards, Andrew Drake, Brandon Cottle and Josh Berry, all of Houlton; Kerri Cunningham of Fort Fairfield; Brandon Hale, Tim Lyford, Caitlin Henrikson and Marigan Bishop, all of Presque Isle; Ashley Nemer of Ashland; and Leah Drew, Josh Cyr and Jessica Cy, all of Caribou.
Allen received an advanced certificate — Helen Allen, registered nurse and clinical administrator in the Presque Isle office of Visiting Nurses of Aroostook (VNA), received advanced certification in general nursing practice from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Allen received her nursing diploma from Eastern Maine Medical center School of Nursing in 1974. She worked as a staff nurse for VNA for four years before moving to Belfast, where she worked at Waldo County Hospital. After moving back to Aroostook County, Allen worked as a coordinator of long-term care services for VNA for several years before becoming clinical administrator for VNA’s Presque Isle area clients. She spent four months preparing for the certification exam, which she said was “a good refresher and like taking state boards all over again.”
