Aug. 31, 1983

The Regional Transportation Program’s commuter bus service to Greater Portland suburbs will start in October, according to RTP’s director of services, James A. Hilly. Service was to have started in September, but only two of the four new buses have arrived and at least three are needed to run the routes. “We want to start it all at once. We want three operational every day,” said Hilly. “We expect to have actual service, tentatively by Oct. 17.” The first buses have already been put into use, answering calls from the handicapped and elderly. RTP

purchased the buses to serve three regular routes between Portland and “Park and Ride” lots in Gorham, North Windham and Freeport. One bus will serve as a spare.

Arlene Colpritt has resigned after more than three years as

secretary to the mayor’s administrative assistant, Jonathan Carter. She has accepted a position at Unionmutual Insurance.

Nancy A. Curran, 222 Duck Pond Road, announced this week that she will be a candidate for nomination to the

Westbrook School Committee from Ward 5. “I am a lifelong resident of this city and a product of the Westbrook school system, having attended the Highland Lake and Forest Street Schools and graduated from Westbrook High School in 1953. I think I know what parents expect from the schools and what the city should be able to deliver for them,” she said.

The 11,700 square feet of urban renewal land between Westbrook Hardware and the John Hay funeral home, idle eight years, may be developed soon. Mayor William O’Gara told the Westbrook City Council this week he has had five or six recent inquiries about it. The council voted its permission for him to ask for proposals.

Walter W. Ziko, instructor of technology and industrial arts at Shaw Junior High School in Gorham, says, “Now that we’re in the computer age, students have to learn how to build things more sophisticated than wooden bird houses in industrial arts classes. Traditional materials such as wood, metal and plastic used in “shop” classes in the past to make gun racks, cribbage boards and coin purses need to be updated by the

industry’s newest raw material: information. “Solid-state electronics are changing dramatically, while cabinetmaking is not,” Ziko explained in a report he delivered to the Gorham School Department.

Sept. 1, 1993

Voting machines are on their way to Westbrook. The City Council gave first reading approval Monday, with final action due Sept. 13. One counting machine would be installed in each ward, with a sixth in City Hall. Accepting the lower of two bids, the city would pay $2,445 for the factory-rebuilt 1988 model OpTech III-P vote tabulators. Maintenance would cost $1,200 a year for each machine, and ballots would cost at least $350 for each election.

What to do with Westbrook’s old high school on Main Street went back to the City Council’s Committee of the Whole Monday, along with advice from staff lawyer Richard Sullivan that the listing of the building as a National Historic Place would not interfere if the city wants to demolish it. Demolition has been estimated to cost $225,000. Sullivan said a

five-year ban of demolition expired in 1992. It stemmed from a $10,000 state grant toward the cost of maintaining the building.

With the state about to get under way on the major job of rebuilding the Route 302 bridge over the Presumpscot River, Westbrook’s mayor and City Council paved the way by authorizing extra heavy truckloads and construction equipment in the area during the work. The state said it would be advertising bids “soon.”

Mayor Fred Wescott vetoed $426.67 in snowplow damage claims of seven owners of Westbrook property Monday. The City Council overrode his veto on the biggest one but upheld it on the rest, thanks to the single vote of Alderman Elmer Welch. In his veto message, Wescott said: “The city has a statutory duty to clear snow from our streets within a reasonable time period after a storm…The fact that

mailboxes and posts are placed in or over the edge of the rights of way pursuant to postal regulations does not make the city additionally liable for their condition. The city only has a duty to operate its plows in an ordinary and reasonable manner.”

The Westbrook Under-16 soccer team beat Cape Elizabeth recently to win the state soccer competition in that category. The championship team includes students aged 14-16, and is coached by Bob Cook and Bud Weymouth. The victory assures Westbrook a spot in the regional competition in Princeton, N.J.

Gorham police notes: An unknown object damaged an auto windshield on Fort Hill Road near the Martin Farm. A barking dog brought police to a Sanborn Street address. The canine may have missed its owner, who was reported gone for the weekend. Harassing phone calls directed at a State Street man were traced to a 7-year-old boy. According to the police log, his parents dealt with him. A Water Street man said his

ex-girlfriend broke into his apartment and vandalized it, as well as taking items that belonged to her. A crying woman called at 4:25 p.m. to say a man drank five or six beers and then drove away She said he becomes abusive and will take it out on her when he gets home. She did not leave her name.