Feb. 1, 1995

Students dug in their heels for their right to choose, but a Westbrook School Committee majority Wednesday appeared to favor a permanent policy of holding graduations in the high school. Carrie Brown, president of the senior class, argued for leaving the graduation site to the seniors.

The flap over a nude dance club in Westbrook may be over. The mayor and City Council voted 5-1 Monday for tough new rules for a special amusement permit, but the fire seemed to go out of the debate after they held a 15-minute closed-door session. Michel Salvaggio, who has proposed a nightclub with nude or nearly nude entertainment at his Exit 8 building, did not attend the meeting.

Chelsey Nicole Whynot of Westbrook and Daniel Stephen Ornstein of Scarborough are the winners of the American Journal’s first baby of 1995 contests. Chelsey is the first child of Jeffrey and Lori Ann Whynot. Daniel is the second child of Jeffrey and Nina Ornstein.

Baxter Memorial Library’s proposed $2.1 million expansion will be discussed at a Gorham Town Council hearing next Tuesday. Library trustees say the historic building is in disrepair and too small to serve readers’ needs in a town as big as Gorham.

Roland and Myrtle Aube of Westbrook and Myrtle’s brother-in-law and sister, Floyd and Pearl Welch, Standish, were away Jan. 6-20. Floyd did all the driving to and from Florida. Roland and Myrtle stayed with a cousin in Orlando, and Floyd and Pearl were guests of their son in Fort Lauderdale. The Aubes also visited her sick aunt in Zephryhills. It was a Florida first for the Welches. The weather was beautiful and warm with only a little rain.

Feb. 2, 2005

Development in downtown Westbrook is stalled, and the Saccarappa Park jump-start it needs is a “political hot potato.” That was the prognosis Ed Symbol, a downtown business owner and chairman of the mayor’s Economic Development Committee, gave to members of the Westbrook Chamber of Commerce last week. He was presenting the committee’s recommendation to sell 60% of the park and leave 40% as a city park. “If this doesn’t get developed, I don’t know what else happens,” he said. He said it is up to the city councilors to make a decision.

In another political hot potato, one of last year’s most controversial budget items returned Monday when the City Council’s Committee of the Whole revisited a proposed curbside recycling and pay-per-bag trash disposal program. Little has changed since the administration last presented the program to the council. Last year, some councilors balked at the bag fees, calling it a “trash tax.”

Dan McDermott of Gorham was awarded the Eagle Scout badge on Jan. 11. For his community project, McDermott constructed a handicap-accessible ramp for the Lions Club in Gorham. He’s a sophomore at Gorham High School.

A Buxton committee is planning a new garage for the Public Works Department on town-owned land adjacent to Town Hall, off Portland Road. Selectman Daniel Collomy, who chairs the committee, said the town has outgrown its present garage on Haines Meadow Road. The cost of a new building is not known yet, but the committee is favoring a bond to finance it. Buxton has never bonded anything previously, Collomy said.