Dec. 2, 1987

Some 70 Gorham residents turned out Monday to question University of Southern Maine officials about Woodside, the controversial student housing development planned for the Gorham campus. Woodside, which would house 396 students in 66 units, is being developed by local residents John Alden and Burleigh Loveitt. It is the first attempt by USM to solve its severe housing shortage by working in partnership with a private developer. USM Vice President for Administration Sam Andrews spoke to the concern of residents that the project will provide no tax revenue for the town. He said that while it is privately owned, it would owe taxes that would be about $100,000 at the current tax rate. He also addressed some of the other concerns, such as traffic and parking, that were raised at an Oct. 19 Planning Board meeting that granted preliminary approval to the project. That action is the subject of a lawsuit filed against the town by a group of residents, mostly abutters to the project. They say the board’s action was inappropriate since the university did not own, nor have a valid option to buy, the property, and it therefore “lacked standing” to seek approvals from the board.

A Westbrook native who went off to become a doctor has returned to serve his hometown and to promote community awareness of the city’s very own “quick care” facility – the Medical Aid Unit at Westbrook Community Hospital. Dr. Paul Carrier, 36, is the new director of the unit. He took over in October from Dr. Joseph Earnhardt, who retired as the hospital’s administrator a year and a half ago. He also took over as the S.D. Warren plant physician.

The Sandy River Group, which got the City Council to change Westbrook’s zoning ordinance after describing plans for a nursing home on a 15-acre Spring Street site, announced to the Planning Board last week that the site will be only 5.25 acres. The group plans to split off for some other use the rest of the 15 acres it plans to buy from Richard Moran at 310 Spring St. Also, it would build its three-story, 125-bed nursing home about 155 feet from Spring Street, closer to the street than it said previously.

Thirty-three percent of the adult population in Westbrook does not hold a high school diploma, placing it well above the average for Cumberland County and even above the state average. And there are at least nine Westbrook girls under the age of 17 who are either pregnant or have recently had children. These are some of the statistics outlined in a report on truancy, dropouts and educational options to be presented to the Westbrook School Committee at its Dec. 14 meeting.

Gorham has taken a big step toward realization of its plans to expand the Municipal Center. At a special meeting Nov. 24, the Town Council approved spending $86,000 to retain S.E.A. Consultants of South Portland for architectural services through the bidding phase of the project, which is expected to start in April. If approved by voters next June, the estimated $1.3 million-$1.5 million proposed addition would add 6,000 feet of space to the present building on the Narragansett School side. Construction would take about a year.

Diane Kidder, administrative aide to the mayor’s office in Westbrook, has been inducted as the first female member of the Westbrook Kiwanis Club.

Dec. 3, 1997

Dec. 15 marks the start of a new era at the University of Maine’s Gorham campus. The USM men’s hockey team will play its first game on its own ice, in USM’s just completed, $3.9 million ice arena. The game, against the University of Massachusetts at Boston, is the first event in a USM athletic program that is expanding specifically on the Gorham campus. School officials hope this expanded program will bring an increased number of traditional college students to Gorham, thus creating more of a campus-style environment rather than a predominantly commuter school. The men skaters, and the new women’s ice hockey team just organized this school year, plus club teams from surrounding towns, have practiced on the new rink since Nov. 10.

A work day has been set for Dec. 6 in Mission Possible’s Teen Center in the Dana Warp building, Westbrook. Volunteers with paint brushes and trowels will go to work preparing the teen center for an early 1998 opening. Mission Possible directors are working with Fleet Bank and Channel 6 to hold a dinner-dance in February to raise money to go toward its $50,000 goal in 1998 to match a promised gift of that amount from the Cornelia Warren Foundation.

As Ben Franklin plans to close its doors in Gorham Thursday or Friday, Home Vision Video is negotiating to locate in its spot at the Village Mall in Gorham. A spokesman in the video company’s head office in Dothan, Ala., could not say Monday whether the national chain wants all of the 18,000 square feet or only part. Home Vision Video has not applied for a permit from the code enforcement officer nor has any other business, to locate at the Ben Franklin site. Employees of Ben Franklin had heard of other retail businesses rumored to be considering located in the building, including VIP Discount Auto Center and the Salvation Army.

Charlie Kilbride will be back helping Santa Claus in Westbrook for the 20th year in a row with a free, non-commercial “Santa’s Mini-Village,” from 4-7 p.m. daily starting Dec. 5 and continuing through Dec. 10. The location will be Foye’s Carpet at Stroudwater Street and William Clarke Drive. Kilbride, a retired S.D. Warren worker, envisioned a place “where mom and dad, grandmother and grandfather could feel comfortable in bringing their children to visit Santa without having to reach into their pockets or purses for money.” Charlie has had the help of Local 1069, Paperworkers’ International, and many businesses and individuals. The village is decorated to be like Santa’s headquarters, with many toys, games, drums, lights, tinsel, Christmas music and a manger scene.

Charlie Kilbride gave out this card with Christmas candy to visitors to his Christmas Village. Kilbride, a retired S.D. Warren worker, envisioned a place “where mom and dad, grandmother and grandfather could feel comfortable in bringing their children to visit Santa without having to reach into their pockets or purses for money.” He had the help of Local 1069, Paperworkers’ International, and many businesses and individuals. The village was decorated to be like Santa’s headquarters, with toys, games, drums, lights, tinsel, Christmas music and a manger scene. The tradition ended with his death in 2006.  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.