Oct. 5, 1988

For the first time, Westbrook residents will pay to take their own trash to the dump if the City Council goes through with an ordinance change it passed on first reading this week. The fee would be $12 a year, or, for a single trip, $3 for a car, $5 for a van, pickup or two-wheel trailer. The fees will be charged if they pass again in a final vote Oct. 17.

A proposal for 22 houses, some on stilts, on lots running down close to Mill Brook at Methodist Road and Route 302, was put before the Westbrook Planning Board last week. The land has been viewed, somewhat sentimentally, for years as ideal for a park, and the developers said they wanted to give 16 of the 30 acres to the city. Alexander Juniewicz, Chari Juniewicz and Paul Albert would develop “Woodbury Estates” in partnership with Lyman K. Woodbury, who owns the land.

Though asbestos has been in one layer of the old Gorham High School gym roof, town official have received word that it will not have to be removed, thus avoiding major costs on the roof replacement project. The roof project engineers said they received word from Maine’s Bureau of Public Improvements that the new roof can be placed over the layers of bituminous built-up roof that contain asbestos. This is good news for Gorham school officials, who faced substantial extra costs if the asbestos had to be removed in accordance with strict federal regulations.

Westbrook aldermen have put the question of a westerly extension of the Maine Turnpike on their back burner. “There’s nothing to be done on it until 1990 or 1991,” Kenneth Lefebvre, chairman, told the City Council’s Highways Committee last week. Lefebvre said he wanted to get the question off the monthly agendas of the committee until there is more to talk about.

On Oct. 17, Joseph Reali will take over from Jack and Edith Whipple as the owner of the Cornerstone Restaurant, the booming home-cooking restaurant the Whipples have run for nearly seven years in downtown Westbrook. The Whipples have been working long and sometimes hectic six-day weeks with few breaks. Reali has plans to keep the restaurant a very similar operation with the same popular prices and specials. He is the son of Amedeo and Anita Reali, who own the famed Village Cafe? on Newbury Street in Portland. He worked there for 15 years cooking before moving four years ago to a job at his cousin Judith Valle’s restaurant, Valle’s Steakhouse.

The S.D. Warren Division Scott Paper Co. has taken out a Westbrook building permit for a new research laboratory, to cost $1.3 million.

The Gorham Planning Board heard a battle of the lawyers Monday but reached no decision in the long-running controversy over the proposed expansion of Shaw Brothers’ Gambo Road gravel pit. It was the third time since summer began that the matter had been heard by the board. As members were polled by Chairman Dan Willett, several of them indicated a willingness to grant approval to the project, with strict conditions attache? that will make it more palatable to the Gambo Road area residents who have waged a long battle against expansion.

Oct. 7, 1998

Sappi announced Friday that it is shutting down S.D. Warren’s No. 6 paper machine almost immediately and eliminating 110 jobs throughout the mill. Corporate spokesman Melanie Otero said that the South Africa-based company needs to make its Westbrook operation more profitable and that means cutting out divisions that are not directly related to its main business of making coated paper. The company hopes to find 110 employees who will accept early retirement and severance packages, she said.

Westbrook Alderman Steve Willette announced at Monday’s City Council meeting that he had made an alarming discovery while visiting the recently closed Rocky Hill landfill on Methodist Road – about 70 computers that the school department had discarded. School technology coordinator Bill Riley said yesterday that the computers were old Apples from the 1980s, outdated and unusable. “We can’t give them away,” he said. They had piled up, and school officials threw them away all at once because it was the last opportunity for free dumping before the landfill closed.

The Westbrook Police Department has issued 36 “cop cards,” color photo calling cards of its officers with information about the policeman featured. Police Chief Steven Roberts’ card will be available at the police station lobby starting Oct. 8, as will the cards of the department’s officers, one after another in the following weeks.

Local Grandmaster Allan Viernes and seven of his students will complete in the 1998 World Martial Arts Championships in Fiuggi, Italy, Oct. 23-25. Students from the Greater Portland School of Jukado who will compete are Bob Jackson, Alicia Viernes, Rhonda Zazzara, Jim Sawyer, Dan Audess, Matt Audesse and Kevin Funston.

At the request of the new CafeNet coffee and computer shop on Main Street, the City Council will consider allowing sidewalk cafes in downtown Westbrook. Alderman Steve Willette is bringing the issue forward for discussion by the Community Services and Economic Development Committee. CafeNet would like to place some tables and chairs on the city’s sidewalk across from CVS and Vallee Square, he said.

The Cumberland County All-Star 4-H Dairy Club was organized in February 1948 in Gorham by James A. Golden, who was then the county Extension Service agent. It went county wide in 1964 and has had as many as 60 members at a time. Next month it will receive the 51st seal for its charter.

The West Gorham Union Church, Route 25, has as its minister for the next year the Rev. Phil Sherman of Gorham. A reception honoring him will be held Oct. 26 at the church.

LOOKING BACK

The Westbrook American reported on Oct. 2, 1963, that Marion Hatch of Gorham would entertain the Presumpscot Garden Club at her camp on Pettengill Pond.

Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Love of West Buxton were on a motor trip to Boulder, Colo., to visit their son and family, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Love.

Victor Raymond operated Vic’s Lunch out of a small building at 398 Main St. For many years. Vic’s was popular among young and old, with French fries and pizza, the most popular. The building was destroyed by fire in 1970 and Raymond never rebuilt or relocated the business. The site remains a vacant lot and the only reminder of what once stood there is the steel post that once held a sign in front of the business. To see more historical photos and artifacts, visit the Westbrook Historical Society at the Fred C. Wescott Building, 426 Bridge St. Inquiries can be emailed to westhistorical@myfairpoint.net. The website is www.westbrookhistoricalsociety.org.