June 22, 1983

Arbitrator Roger V. Snow told the city of Westbrook to take

Peter Blanchette, fired patrolman, back as a probationary policeman if he passes a psychiatric test. Blanchette was fired after he was arrested Jan. 20 for shoplifting at Shaw’s Pine Tree Shopping Center store. Snow said more serious crimes by Westbrook policemen – receiving stolen property, drunken driving, threatening a wife with a gun – got less serious punishment under Chief Leroy Darling, who retired last year.

He said there was ” lack of notice” that past practice was to be

changed. Under the circumstances, the shoplifting arrest was not “sufficient reason” to fire him, Snow said.

Skipping school more than 15 percent of the time would result in loss of the quarter’s graduation credits, in proposed rules of discipline for Westbrook High School that will be discussed by the School Committee. The rules are needed, said the school administration, because so many people are choosing to keep

their kids out of school.

As if to celebrate its 100th anniversary this year, Hannaford Bros. is undergoing a major growth spurt, which could culminate in the construction of a $4 million to $5 million shopping plaza behind the Maine Mall. Last year the company’s capital expenditure amounted to less than $17 million. Real estate developments included the opening of a new Sampson’s warehouse supermarket in Jay, and expansions or alterations to six Shop ‘N Save stores in Brunswick, Lewiston, Westbrook, South

Portland, Calais and Bucksport.

A burglar’s boasts helped solve six nighttime pocketbook thefts for Westbrook police recently. The man was in a variety store, flashing a lot of money and telling the shopkeeper a story about how he had foiled a nighttime pocketbook thief. Little

did he know that the other customer was Deputy Police Chief Wayne Syphers. Syphers didn’t know the man but he described him to Patrolman Ronald Allanach, who recognized the description and took Syphers to the man’s home on Maple Avenue. They asked some questions got some answers

they knew were wrong, and eventually got the man’s confession to all

June 23, 1993

Will Clark, 13, a sixth-grader, wants to tell the Westbrook School Committee about the cigarette smoke in Wescott Junior High school. Teachers and other staff members who smoke, including Principal Spencer Hardy, smoke in the designated room, but it is a janitor’s supply room that has no windows and the door is always ajar or open so smoke drifts out into the school, Clarke said last week. Clark said he speaks for a group of three other students and feels that many others, including teachers, are concerned about the second-hand smoke. “We had a lesson about it recently and we studied the report in the

Portland Press Herald about second-hand smoke,” he said. National news stories have reported that more and more evidence is turning up that shows non-smokers’ health can be damaged by others’ smoke.

Since there are serious concerns about approving another $10 million in financing to build a large recycling complex in Gorham, the focus is now turning to other options for handling recyclable materials and not burnable waste from the 31 Regional Waste Systems member communities. One suggested plan – to build just a 50-acre landfill in Gorham – likely would face local opposition and perhaps outright rejection by the Planning Board, said Town Council chairman Thad Moody.

“I think if it was landfill only you’d have a hard sell in Gorham. I certainly don’t think that’s going to fly.”

Westbrook police notes: A Rochester Street woman, taking her

daughter to Brighton Medical Center for treatment of injuries she got in an assault in Portland, told police that a gang might be coming. A Maple Avenue boy, age 7, was bleeding at the back of his head after a teenager hit him. At 1 p.m. the junior high school asked police to remove a group of five juveniles from the school grounds. On Abby Lane, a man said a woman has been giving his daughter liquor. A man in the

lobby at Westbrook Community Hospital at 6:30 p.m. was hallucinating. A woman said her neighbor was trying to run down her dog. At 3 a.m., people were throwing bottles at the Soleski house at 26 Webster St.

Gorham High School ice hockey players will be learning under a new coach next season. He is Bob Marquis, who has coached and played in

Europe, Canada and Connecticut and currently teaches physical

education part time at the junior high school. Dick Portwine, past president and current member of the Gorham Ice Hockey Association says Marquis will coach summer league starting in July.