Three weeks ago, the Veazie Salmon Club — one of three salmon clubs on the Bangor-to-Orono stretch of the Penobscot River — seemed on the brink of collapse. Frustrated members Gayland Hachey and Claude Westfall cited a membership base that was literally dying off, along with years of disinterest, as they explained that they’d keep paying bills as long as the money in the bank account held up, then turn the club building over to the town of Veazie when it ran out.
Membership renewal notices weren’t being sent out, Hachey explained. Meetings hadn’t been held in three or four years. And a board of directors didn’t even exist.
When the story about the club’s demise appeared in the BDN in early April, Bob Wengrzynek of Old Town, a member since the 1980s, said a few dozen other members reached out to him via phone and email, asking for an explanation he couldn’t provide. None, he said, even knew that the club’s future was in doubt. He didn’t know, either.