Feb. 28, 1990

With a good deal of anguish, the City Council set Westbrook’s sewer rate last week at $3.34 for each 100 feet of water used, a 68 percent increase. Part of the increase was blamed on a wrong guess about how much sewage would come into the Portland Water District’s treatment plant in Westbrook from Gorham. The district planned to bill Gorham for 16 percent of the plant’s costs but found that the meter flow from Gorham was only 9 percent. Higher than predicted costs of sludge disposal also are a factor, said Joseph Taylor, water district general manager.

Mayor Fred C. Wescott made it clear last week that he is flatly opposed to a new proposal to let Regional Waste Systems dump its ash in Westbrook in return for taking Westbrook’s trash. He hopes recycling soon will put the city in a better bargaining position on trash. The ash plans surfaced in a City Council discussion of money problems at the Maine Energy Recovery Co.’s trash burner in Biddeford. Meanwhile, the City Council will take final action March 5 on new waste burning fees that are more than three times higher and will cost the city about $275,000. The council voted last week to accept the increase from Maine Energy Recovery Co.’s trash burner. The increase is part of an agreed increase of fees for all MERC’s towns designed to keep MERC from going broke and closing.

Linda Abromson is a candidate for the Democratic nomination to Congress with a strong Westbrook connection, and now she has another. She has chosen as campaign manager Kenneth Lefebvre, president of the Westbrook City Council. Abromson is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Julius Elowitch, Portland. Her father is the Yudy of Yudy’s Tire, a founder of the Westbrook-based business that grew through much of southern and coastal Maine and grew to include Maine Rubber International. Lefebvre is working full time on the campaign.

Matthew Binette, Westbrook High School sophomore, has been chosen to attend a High O’Brian Youth Foundation Leadership Seminar this spring to be held in Augusta, sponsored by the Westbrook Woman’s Club. A Maine boy and girl will be chosen from those at the Augusta seminar to attend the foundation’s international seminar this summer in Minnesota. Matt is president of the sophomore class, class representative of the Marching Band and a member of the sophomore magazine fundraiser. He is the son of Michael J. and Martha Place Binettte.

Classified advertisement: Parents: Help your girl or boy (age 9 and up) learn about jobs a money. Help them build an American Journal route in your neighborhood. Want to talk about it? Call Pat, 797-6112.

March 1, 2000

A combined McDonald’s restaurant and Big Apple convenience store with a 12-pump gas station is being proposed for the Mobil station site at Main and Mechanic streets in Gorham. New developers David Kingsley and Wilfred Audet Jr. are behind the project, but McDonald’s could once again have a hard time passing muster with town officials. A year ago, the Town Council slapped a construction moratorium on the Village to prevent C.N. Brown from building a combined McDonald’s- convenience store. Councilors plan to vote March 14 on a Gorham Village master plan that was completed nearly two years ago but never formally adopted. Kingsley and Audet will have to get major board concessions to build the project the way they want.

Its bid to lay a new Spring Street sewer line in Westbrook was the winner at $999,999.99 Monday, but the S.E. MacMillan Co. of Bangor may get another $100,000 beyond that, if the City Council follows through on the recommendation of James Bennett, administrative assistant, at a second reading.

Susan Duchaine wants to develop a major subdivision of 54 single-family homes and 26 multi-family condos on 69 acres off South Street in Gorham, adjacent to Forest Acres and extending to Weeks Road to the west. She is scheduled to present her plans to the Planning Board March 6. Duchaine plans to extend public water and sewer lines to the site. The condos and the houses will require separate reviews.

Spring fever struck a dozen Gorham women after a recent Sunday Mass at St. Anne’s Church. They went to lunch in Portland and then to an open house at Skillin’s Greenhouse, where they saw beautiful displays of plants and flowers.

Classified ad: Lost dog. $1,000 reward for information leading to the return of this missing dog, male, black and white Siberian husky. Blue eyes, very friendly, answers to the name McKinley. Last seen in Portland Jan. 5. Can roam up to 50 miles.

Bernice K. Bassett of Westbrook has moved from 18 Larrabee Heights after being there 11 years, to The Woods at Canco, Portland. She had lived on Seavey Street many years, from the time she was 5 years old. She graduated from Westbrook High School in 1931 and from Gorham Normal School in its last two-year class. She taught for 38 years, retiring in 1972.

Stock House No. 5 was originally a shipping, receiving and warehouse for S.D. Warren Co. The building was located near the railroad tracks that cross Main Street near Rochester Street. This photo shows the building in a state of disrepair and covered with graffiti. The building was sold and the new owners renovated it. It is presently occupied by several businesses and the Stockhouse restaurant. To see more historical photos and artifacts, visit the Westbrook Historical Society at the Fred C. Wescott Building, 426 Bridge St. It is open Tuesdays and Saturdays, 9 a.m.-noon, and the first Wednesday of each month at 1:30 p.m., September-June. Inquiries can be emailed to westhistorical@myfairpoint.net. The website is www.westbrookhistoricalsociety.org.Photo and research courtesy of Mike Sanphy