July 1980

Shirley Letarte gave a memorable wedding anniversary present to Ray. She had Blue Rock Industries deliver a two-and-a-half-ton rock to the front yard of their home at 252 Main St., Gorham.

The attorney general will decide whether Harold Hickey can get full pay as Gorham’s school business manager while continuing to draw state pension money as Westbrook’s retired school superintendent. Meanwhile his Gorham pay has been cut 40 percent, from $346.15 to $205 a week.

Peat, Marwick Mitchell and Company has made “30 or 40” recommendations for changes in South Portland city accounts, in connection with its annual audit. City Manager Ronald Stewart declined to release the report to the South Portland Taxpayers Association but offered to discuss it with SPTA officers.

The Westbrook Senior Citizens are looking for a clubhouse. The one they have used at S. D. Warren since 1966 is in the way of expansion of the biomass boiler project and has to go. It has been rent-free, heated, with toilet, kitchen, office and meeting rooms and good access. Roy Robinson, president, said the Senior Citizens can afford to pay a small rent.

Atlantic Federal Savings and Loan has chosen Arnold L. Clark as its new president and chief executive officer. Clark, 32, keeps in shape by running five or six miles a day.

Congress has put us $30 billion deeper in debt and an editorial declares, “The American people ought to be screaming mad about this. They know they can’t run their own lives like that.”

In 1955, all Gorham schools except “the new high school shop” burned coal.

The Fairbanks House, built in Dedham, Mass., in 1636, is the oldest wood-frame structure in North America. Its framework is reproduced this summer on Boston Common.

The Maine Office of Energy Resources will tell you about a new federal law requiring utilities to do an energy audit of your house.

A 13-year-old Westbrook boy was drunk and violent. Police took him to the P-6 (psychiatric) ward at the Maine Medical Center. The next night he was arrested for stealing a fifth of Barcardi Rum at Bradlees.

Westbrook Fire Chief James Rulman is president of the New England Association of Fire Chiefs.

Dennis F. Ela, a fifth-grade teacher in Windham’s Manchester School, has been named Windham’s K-8 curriculum coordinator, a new position.

Alexis J. and Yvonne Cote, 97 East Grand Ave., Scarborough, were honored on their 40th wedding anniversary May 25.

High school yearbooks were dedicated this year as follows: Windham, Frank Hawkes; Gorham, Donald D. Ellison; Cape Elizabeth, Paul Thibault; Scarborough, Robert Larry Jensen; South Portland, Carlton D. Miller; Bonny Eagle, David H. Crabtree.

About 200 dropped in for an open house on Father’s Day to honor Arkie Robers, Windham, on his 50th birthday.

Internal Revenue Service rules are weakening American industry, said Charles D. Dickey Jr., president of Scott Paper Co. He said the IRS will let Scott put aside, to replace equipment and forests, only what it originally spent, whereas inflation means that today’s costs are much higher. Another cost is excessive government regulation, he said.

Clyde and Joyce Esty bought The Fez from Linwood Graffam last week and will re-open the downtown Westbrook restaurant as the Copper Hearth.

July 1990

Donald Lowell, 327 Main St., Westbrook, knows how addictive cigarettes are; from age 17, he smoked 40 years, and has emphysema. He is offering T-shirts that say, “SMOKING IS ADDICTIVE,” the theme of a recent American Journal editorial. He’s a retired quality control manager for S. D. Warren release papers.

City and school sides of the next Westbrook budget both are up more than 10 percent.

Westbrook’s Nathan Grant has been evacuated from the Philippines after Communist rebels threatened to kidnap or kill him and other Peace Corps volunteers. He has been teaching arithmetic in third- and fourth-grades. Grant is the son of Allin and Pauline Grant.

In Scarborough, a radar digital display will show drivers (and police) their speed.

Windham Town Councilor Stuart Neal wants a committee to be formed to press for developing an alternative to Route 302. Frank Koenig, Chamber of Commerce executive director, agrees that a remedy is needed.

Kids were jumping into the Presumpscot River from the roof of the building at 925 Main Street, Westbrook. Police told them to leave.

Matty’s Taxi, Westbrook, advertises that it won’t be running July 4; its drivers will have the day off.

Westbrook schools advertised for a financial manager at $35,000 to $37,000, and 88 people have applied.

Plans for a Sam’s Wholesale Club store, of the Wal-Mart chain, in Scarborough at Payne Road and Route 114, are being reviewed by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Announced a year ago, the plans have preliminary approval of the town… Sam’s offers reduced prices to those who pay a membership fee.

Susan Jackson is Scarborough town clerk, succeeding Laurel Nadeau who moved to Poland spring. Jackson, Gorham, is a former South Portland deputy clerk.

The Gorham House, a $6.5 million residence for the elderly, will open July 6 with a staff of up to 150. Its services will include child care and adult day care. It is located at 50 New Portland Road, Gorham. Owners are William Gillis, Joseph Hogan and Ward Hand. They have years of experience in the senior care business.

Westbrook’s Burton and Ann Bittner and a group toured Germany. Among their souvenirs are pieces of the Berlin Wall.

Maine has new “advance disposal” fees for a new tire or car battery, it’s $1. It’s $5 for a major appliance, mattress, bathtub or major piece of furniture. It’s $10 if you buy a battery but don’t turn in an old one. The money goes to four state agencies and local recycling agencies.

Westbrook’s teachers’ contract adds $335,000 this year and again next year. Base pay goes to $19,000 and then $20,000. Teachers also get $950 more, then $1,000 for each year of experience up to 16 years. Teachers also get $950, then $1,000 for each level of added training. They get 21 paychecks a year. In-city travel is 22 cents a mile. At retirement, unused sick leave is paid up to $5,500. Stipends for coaching, etc., are additional.

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