March 9, 1983

Twenty-four downtown Westbrook businesses told the Council of Governments that their revenues have increased over the past five years. This was one of he questions asked in a COG survey intended to help retailing in downtown Westbrook. Businessmen were asked to adjust their revenue estimate for inflation. A banker in the meeting wondered if they did adjust, noting that 13 of the reporting businesses said they would not be willing to give money for a downtown improvement program. Eleven said they would give, and five said “maybe.” There was a strong “unnecessary” vote on all six of the city’s proposals for downtown improvement.

Police were called to Westbrook Junior High School twice last week, once for illegal barbiturates and once for nunchucks. The students involved are 12 and 13 years old. Police Inspector Ronald Allanach said five or six barbiturates, including both capsules and tablest, were seized as evidence and two students probably will be arrested. A teacher saw a group of three or four students acting in a suspicious way and discovered that a sale of the drugs had taken place. A few days later, three other students were found carrying a total of five pairs of nunchuck, a dangerous martial arts weapon, and one of them had a “star,” an Asian knife with several knife-blade points. There

was no relationship between the drugs and weapons incidents.

Westbrook’s delegation to the National League of Cities meeting in Washington this week will have to get its expenses paid when it gets back. By a 1-vote margin, the shrunken City Council refused to spend “up to $2,500′ Monday to pay for the trip. Actually, Alderman Norman Conley cast the only negative vote. It takes four “yes” votes to pass an order, however, and the 3-1 vote wasn’t enough.

The First Baptist Church of Westbrook is sponsoring a family of

Afghanistan refugees. They are a family of nine: the father, Ghulam Dastagir Atebar, 53; his wife, Aziza, 47; daughters Zakia, 25, Nahid, 20, Maria, 17, and Reta, 12; and sons Mohammad Farid, 22, Fowar, 15, and Shad Ashraf, 10. Atebar was a major general in the Afghan army. He was trained in the United States and speaks some English.

Constance D. Goldman, elected to succeed Woodbury Saunders as superintendent of Gorham schools, swill take over the position on Aug. 1.

An anonymous phone call has helped Gorham and Portland police solve the death of a Gorham donkey, the theft of $800 worth of beer and cigarettes from Welch’s Variety, Gorham, and the theft of a bolt cutter, gas masks and ammunition from a Cumberland police cruiser. All the crimes were in mid-September. “Within three days after the Gorham crimes, we knew who did it,” said Gorham Police Cpl. David Kurz, “but it takes more than that to prove it to a judge.” The two 16-year-old boys were picked up on other charges and sent to the Maine Youth Center. Later, Arthur E. Bortel,

27, was arrested for reckless conduct, ended up in the Cumberland County Jail ,where he confessed to the Gorham crimes.

March 10, 1993

A 33-year-old Gorham man involved in a domestic dispute was arraigned in District Court on charges of terrorizing with a dangerous weapon. Bail for Daniel Brydon was set for $5,000, and he was instructed to attend an in-house alcohol treatment program. He has been scheduled to appear in court in April.

The Westbrook City Council voted 4-2 on a first reading to spread over three years a $6,234 raise for city Public Works Director George Googins. Opposed were Peter Adams and Elmer Welch; they favored the full raise. President Kenneth Lefebvre missed the meeting, but is expected back when it comes up for a final action March 15. The City Council raised Googins’ pay $6,234 this year because he has added the Forestry Department to his area of responsibility.

Westbrook High School is going back in some departments to mixing all students together instead of separating them by ability levels. This new-old “heterogeneous grouping” already is in place in some classrooms and is regarded as a coming thing in others. Susan Jaulavits said it’s a goal in the English Department “to escape large classes on non-motivated academic level students.” In social studies, Dale King said, “Heterogeneous grouping of students is being investigated by the department, and senior electives next year will be

offered to all seniors on such a basis.”

Steel girders will be put up in mid-March that will allow

construction to move ahead on Westbrook’s new City Council chamber. The chamber will be in a former workshop and storage area on the first floor of the City Hall annex, the former manual arts building behind the old high school at 765 Main St.

Westbrook’s Democratic City Committee has elected Paul James as its chairman, succeeding Arthur C. Gordon Jr., who had been the city chairman four years. James moves up from vice chairman.

The City Council will hold second reading and final action March 15 on a new contract with Westbrook’s firemen’s union. The contract runs from last July 1 to the coming June 30. The contract grants longevity “step” pay raises but no cost-of-living raise.

Aldermen voted last week to hold off on buying $34,927 worth of computers for the police department after Alderman Lionel

Dumond called it “overkill.” The money is coming from drug assets seized by Uncle Sam and turned over to the city for law enforcement purchases.

Putting recyclables along the curbside with garbage could be an option in Gorham. Audrey Gerry, chairwoman of the Recycling Committee, asked the Town Council for an ordinance change to require trash haulers to collect separate bags of recyclables. She said only 4 percent of the town’s recyclable material is being left in five bins designated for that purpose.