June 1982

Westbrook expects an increase of about 18 percent in total valuation this year, to $350 million, partly as a result of construction of the new biomass boiler at the S.D. Warren paper mill.

Mayor William O’Gara announced the resignation of Phillip Curran as a Transit District director, two weeks after he had been reappointed. Curran said he couldn’t continue without support by Westbrook for an effort to reach an understanding with the coming South Portland bus system on transfers and picking up passengers. Alderman Norman Conley said he thinks the majority opinion of the municipal officers is not against cooperation with South Portland, but in favor of getting more facts before a decision is made.

Three Westbrook ninth-graders, John Girard, Kevin Kimball and Sheryl Simpson, have been chosen to attend a science workshop for gifted students, sponsored by the state Department of Educational and Cultural Services, the week of June 14 at Bryant Pond.

Aaron Stemmel, 4, fell from the car of his parents, Emil and Barbara Stemmel, 37 Pleasant St., Portland, in Westbrook and then was hit by a car. He was taken to Maine Medical Center with a broken arm and scuff marks. The Stemmel car was rounding the corner at Cumberland Street and Warren Avenue when the door popped open and Aaron fell, almost in front of the police station. The following car dragged Aaron about 3 feet.

In an effort to protect existing non-mobile stores, the Gorham Town Council voted 4-3 to eliminate Butch Lunch from a list of 17 victualer’s licenses to be renewed. The license was to be issued to Frank J. Buotte for Butch Lunch, a mobile unit permanently situated at the Amoco Station on Lower Main Street. Councilman Edward Needham said that he feels issuing a victualers’s license to Butch Lunch is “doing

a disservice to the other businesses in the area.”

Robert Parent, general manager of the Weyerhaeuser plant in Westbook, is the new president of the Westbrook Chamber of Commerce. He succeeds Stanley Elowitch, of Maine Rubber International. Henry Gagnon, a real estate agent, is vice president, and Fred Legere, manager of Day’s Jewelry store, is treasurer.

June 1992

The Westbrook School Committee will act on a new one-year

contract with Westbrook Education Association that holds pay at present levels except for about $110,000 in “step” raises for

experience. Teachers approved it last week. To keep payroll expenses at its present level despite the step raises, the school committee voted to cut the equivalent of four full-time jobs. One full-time teacher and four others are affected. The superintendent’s office said it wouldn’t give out their names until it’s clear that there’s no one with less seniority.

Under protest and with a sense of resignation, the Gorham Town Council has reluctantly agreed to adopt state-mandated shoreland zoning rules that require wide buffers along rivers and streams and will affect around 600 parcels of land in town.

The council at first considered refusing to adopt the rules, and ended up passing them “under protest,” a gesture Town Attorney Bill Dale said would matter little in Augusta. Dale had earlier told the council Gorham would be subject to fines from the Department of Environment Protection for every day after July that the Shoreland Zoning Act requirements were not adopted.

Before there was Cindy Blodgett, before there was Stephanie Carter, Rachel Bouchard, Cathy Iaconeta or most any Maine-bred schoolgirl or college basketball player who pushed the female version of the game to a higher level in the modern era, there was Lisa Blais. That’s why, 11 years after leading Westbrook High to the last of four straight Class A schoolgirl basketball titles and seven years after helping lad Old

Dominion to the NCAA Division I women’s hoop title, Lisa Blais Manning was picked to lead eight males into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame. She is now married with one child and another on the way.

School Superintendent Edward Connolly is asking the Westbrook School Committee to switch lawyers. The school department would hire Desmond and Cooper, Westbrook, dropping Drummond Woodsum Plimpton and MacMahon, Portland. Connolly said the switch would save money and provide “very competent” service.

Sunday burials will be permitted henceforth in Gorham, the town council voted unanimously. They have been barred for years, originally because they required overtime payments to Public Works employees. For about six years, however, the work has been done by private contractors, who have Sunday crews available.

Gorham has added new flexibility to requirements that

residential developers must meet to ensure that streets and utilities are properly installed. The town council

approved four options for providing performance guarantees – a security bond, a letter of credit, an escrow account and a subdivision improvement guarantee.