May 1982

Some Westbrook High School seniors took it upon themselves to call Friday “Senior Skip Day,” and skipped school. They were rewarded by being suspended, unless they had a note from home. Principal Richard Getchell said 13 or 14 were penalized. For a couple who had no previous skips, the penalty was demerits on the school’s point system. Some got three-day suspensions. Others were suspended for five days,

depending upon their past history. Two are serving their suspensions studying in an office off Getchell’s because parents didn’t want them out of school.

From the police blotter: Ann Libby, 17 North St., Westbrook, reported that while her husband was putting out an old water heater for the city pickup in Clean-Up Week, it got away from him and did $275 damage to the car of James

Lawrence, 21 North St. A Gorham man and his girl had an argument and she took the keys of his car, stranding it in front of the police station. Gorham Police located her and got the keys. A 25-year-old man was taken to the Osteopathic Hospital after is wife foundan empty bottle that had contained 22 capsules for back pains (prescription, one every four hours). Also, she said he had been drinking all night.

William Michaud, a Westbrook High School history teacher, has been awarded a Fulbright grant that will pay for his travel and

accommodations for six weeks’ study in China.

A plan for a 42-house development on the river side of Brook Street, extending below Carol and Virginia streets, was presented to the Westbrook Planning Board. The development is planned by Kifisia Trust. This was described as a family trust of the family of George D. Altifarmkis, who moved a few months ago into the former C. Sam DiBias home on Brook Street. The development would be called Brookgate.

In hopes of improving the appearance of Gorham’s Central Square, the Gorham Town Council approved a proposal, initiated by the Gorham Chamber of Commerce that includes repaving the sidewalks with a stone similar to brick, called “Terrastone.” The plan also calls for leveling the sidewalks and reducing their widths to 6 1/2 feet. The

town manager told the American Journal that “the entire project will cost somewhere around $10,000.

Although the Gorham Town Council voted to tear down the Charlotte Millett School, the issue is not dead. Townspeople are circulating an advisory petition in hopes of getting the council to reverse its decision. Jack Berman, a retired engineer who lives across from the school, is leading the petition drive to save the school. He said that while the exit onto School Street is unsafe, the school is “structurally sound” and “part of historic Gorham. “You don’t tear down a useful building.”

May 1992

Nearing the end of a record-swift budget discussions, Westbrook, with Chairman Don Richards opposed, voted $16,681 for the Council of Governments, despite a heated attack on COG by citizen Alfred E. Porell, with some assistance. John Bubier, the executive director of COG, offered mild replies. By the same 6-1 vote, the Finance Committee also approved $228,291 for Greater Portland Transit District – Metro.

Gorham’s Bartlett, Ward’s Hill, North Gorham, Longview and Dingley Spring roads have one thing in common. Each is included on a list that Town Engineer Bill Taylor produces when the topic of road maintenancecomes up. He carries it in his head. “In some sections, the road’s just gone,” said Taylor of North Gorham Road. “There’s no sense playing with it. Dingley Spring and Longview, I’d overlay both of those. We couldn’t finish the job we started in 1990 so I’d go back,”

he said. “We can’t do what we should do, but we should do what we haveto do,” said Taylor of existing maintenance needs. “I don’t care if it’s a road, a house or that roof over here,” he said, gesturing to the Municipal Center roof, “you have to maintain these things on a regular basis.”

Westbrook is getting $147,000 from illegal drugs. Mayor Fred Wescott told the City Council that the U.S District Attorney will be sending that much money as Westbrook’s share of the proceeds of sale of property seized from persons convicted of drug trafficking over the past six years. The city was waiting word from the D. A. on how the money can be used, he said.

City Council President Kenneth Lefebvre has asked for a change in Westbrook city purchasing. Whenever a contract calls for withholding final payment until the city is satisfied that it got full value, it should be up to the City Council to decide, he said, whether the contract has been fulfilled and the final money should be paid out. The council sent his proposal to the Finance Committee for study.

Latin, according to Leland Arris, who teaches it at Westbrook High school is “very useful for virtually every type of kid.” And so he has tried, and succeeded, at getting into his classes, not just those who are going on to college, but “real world” types of students. When he started teaching it at Westbrook six years ago, there were around 45 students of Latin at all levels. Now there are more than 100.

The Hannaford Bros. Co. will seek permission – again-to build a shopping center in Gorham on the site of an old racetrack on

Narragansett Street. Planning Board Chairman Robert Johnson received a formal request for a zoning change on the 62.5-acre parcel and a check for $250 to cover the application fee.

Westbrook Mayor Fred Wescott said, “I urge everyone to support” the $76 million bond issue going before Maine voters to finance construction work by government and industry. The city will submit by the end of the month its own list of the things it would like to get from the big state loan, he said.