Feb. 1, 1989

Clifford Knight, Methodist Road, went to a Westbrook City Council armed with two big pieces of the rubbish – a piece of plastered wall and a chunk of metal – he said litters his street, dropped from trucks on their way to Rocky Hill, the dump for demolition debris and other big items. He asked that the city require that loads going to the dump be covered.

About 20 gallons of unleaded gasoline seeped up from overfilled underground tanks at the Big Apple store in Westbrook during a delivery late Monday night. Inattention by the tank delivery driver for the C.N. Brown Co., the store’s owner, was blamed for the spill, which local firefighters and an official from the Department of Environmental Protection say is only one of many that have occurred at the 24-hour convenience store. Firefighters from Engine One spread three bags of quick dry sand to one side of the pumps where the three underground tanks had just been filled.

Westbrook School Superintendent Edward Connolly said it will likely cost $50,000 a year to run a day care center on the grounds of Westbrook High School. The program would be housed in a portable classroom. He hopes it could move into the present building known as “the castle” when renovations to the high school are complete. The center could serve no more than eight children, he said. Connolly does not expect to provide an exact figure until after the School Committee gives a first reading on the proposal at its Feb. 12 meeting. The committee could take final action Feb. 27.

Ed and Elaine Needham, Route 25, Gorham, have returned from Cape Coral, Fla., where they enjoyed a month-long Christmas vacation. This was the first time they had driven down and they enjoyed the trip with her parents, Eugene and Alice Kimball from Westbrook. Settled into their newly purchased condo for the season, they were joined by their daughter Ja, who flew down on her winter break from classes at Brandeis College, where she is in her first year.

New health care providers in Gorham: Kerwin Chiropractic Health Care, 352 Main St., opens Feb. 6, 1989. Joseph M. Kerwin, doctor of chiropractic, is a member of the American Chiropractic Association and International Chiropractic Association. Brian Goulet, DMD, has become a full-time associate in the practice of family dentistry with James D. Toucher Jr., DMD. The office is located at 130 Main St.

Feb. 3, 1999

Gorham needs more caring volunteers to fight its fires, says Fire Chief Robert Lefebvre, and he planned to take his concerns to the Town Council this week. Gorham is not the only community suffering from the lack of available personnel. Volunteer fire departments across the country have the same situation. “There are no simple answers to the overall problem,” he said.

The owners of the Hamlet mobile home park, turned down for a $19 a lot monthly rent increase by Westbrook’s Rent Justification Board, have sent residents notice of a proposed $39 a month rent increase this year, effective May 1. If tenants oppose the new increase, it will again have to go before the board. The increase would put rents on all lots in the 288-unit park at $300 a more a month.

Mayor Donald Esty is proposing that Westbrook eliminate the position of director of finance and create two new positions with the titles of director of financial and audit standards and director of revenue collection and customer services. When asked if the change would put the director of finance, Susan Rossignol, out of a job, Esty said, “Not at all.” The changes, he said, are just restructuring, and would mean giving Rossignol one of the new titles; the other might go to an assistant. The council voted this week to refer the proposal to its Personnel Policy Committee.

The Westbrook School Committee has approved a pay raise for substitute teachers. The daily rate will rise from $50 to $75, and substitutes who accumulate 45 days of teaching in a school year will receive $80 a day. Long-term substitutes will be paid $85 a day for serving between 10 and 40 days and $110 a day for serving more than 41 days in an assignment.

Westbrook has been disqualified from applying for one of the $400,000 state grants to be awarded in the spring. Downtown committee member Ann Peoples, who was writing the grant, said she found out just before the Jan. 15 deadline that she could not use the 1990 U.S. Census data to prove that the grant would benefit low-income residents. More recent statistics were not available. The money for the grant comes from the federal government and requires that each grant benefit low-income areas.

Meanwhile, city officials have been presented a report on the downtown’s future prepared by Land Design Group, Ellsworth; Planning Decisions and Market Decisions, South Portland; traffic engineer Jack Murphy and John Gordon Architect, Bangor. It lists 10 overall goals the city should have for its downtown, including making it a center for culture and commerce, enhancing residential neighborhoods, promoting retail, redeveloping key properties such as the Maine Rubber plant, improving the look of storefronts, and changing the downtown’s image.

In a special program sponsored by the Baxter Memorial Library, some of Gorham’s well-known residents will read their favorite poems Feb. 3 at the high school auditorium. Readers include singer-songwriter Mike Nobel, Police Chief Ron Shepard and Channel 6 reporter Diane Atwood.

The old city garage building at 15 Stevens Ave. was photographed shortly before it was demolished several years ago. The building served as city garage from 1934 to 1970, when a new garage was built on Saco Street.  The building went on to serve as the first quarters of the Westbrook Rescue Unit from 1969 to 1976, when a new quarters was built at 419 Warren Ave. (adjacent to the old police station). The city’s Forestry Department was also located here before moving to the city garage on Saco Street. The property was sold and a new commercial building was built at the rear of the lot. 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.