Sept. 19, 1990

The first gravel pit in Gorham for which expansion approval is being sought under a new gravel pit ordinance drew a crowd of 50 to 60 people last Saturday morning. Jack Gordon, owner of the Mighty Street pit, Planning Board members, neighbors and other interested parties were among those to brave wind and rain, walk the site and discuss how expansion would affect the area. The pit has been owned by the Gordon family since the early 1950s. The existing operation occupies around 5 acres. The proposed expansion would be driven by demands of the market, but a fair estimate would be an excavated site of 50 acres with a 25-year period.

The Westbrook Merchants Association met Monday to adopt official bylaws and elect officers. Martin Pizzo was elected president and Lionel Dumond vice president. The group also voted to establish four new committees, one to make holiday baskets for the needy; one to work on a joint coupon promotion for all members; a bylaws committee; and a committee to oppose Sunday sales by large stores.

Advertisement: Grand Opening Specials. Yudy’s, which has been serving the area’s tire and auto service needs, is back under the direct and active management of the Elowitch family. We’re inviting old and new friends to join us in a grand opening sale. Yudy’s Tire & Auto Service, 22 Saco St., Westbrook.

Three members of the Gorham and Westbrook dispatch departments recently returned form the 56th annual convention of the Association of Public Safety Officers, held this year in Boston. Gorham dispatch supervisor Linda Alexander, fellow dispatcher Shirley Irish, and Westbrook fire and rescue dispatcher Donna Post made the trip for the convention, Aug.26-30. They were three of 6,200 dispatchers attending.

Rosa J. Peterson, 310 Longfellow Place, Westbrook, has returned from Augusta, where she attended the wedding of her granddaughter, Sonja L. Peterson, to Setephen Kalloch, Farmingdale. Rose managed to catch the bridal bouquet and her 5-year-old great-grandson caught the bridal garter.

An early surprise 70th birthday party was held for Edward Foley, 203 Main St., Gorham, on Aug. 25 at Bandy Pond Family Campground in Naples. The theme was the Boston Red Sox, as Ed is a true die-hard fan. He was given a one-of-a-kind lawn chair made up with the Rex Sox name and logo, designed and made by Lindel and Jeanette Mains.

Sept. 20, 2000

One of the five routes still alive and running in Gorham’s bypass election derby would pour traffic into Westbrook’s New Gorham Road. That was news this week to Paul LaConte, who represents that part of the city on the Westbrook City Council. He said he didn’t think anyone else in Westbrook city government had heard about it. If it came to pass, that bypass would be a high-speed limited-access highway from Brandy Brook west of Gorham Village circling south of the village and then up to the New Portland Road near the Westbrook line. Gorham’s New Portland Road is Westbrook’s New Gorham Road. It is posted for 25 miles an hour. The idea is among many aimed at relieving rush-hour congestion in Gorham Village.

Southern Container on Hawkes Street is scaling back its operations in Westbrook, slowing production in mid-October, idling one finishing machine. Then, on or around Nov. 15, it will shut down the corrugator, the big machine that makes sheets of corrugated board out of rolls of kraft paper and glue. The corrugator sets it apart from Maine’s only other box plant, Volk Packaging in Biddeford, which makes boxes out of sheets trucked in from away. The Westbrook plant has “lost many millions of dollars,” the company said in a letter to employees.

The additions and renovations to the Canal School in Westbrook were still under way when in opened for classes Aug. 30, and work is yet to be completed. Maple flooring still hasn’t been laid in the new gym, the vent hood hasn’t been installed near the ovens and stoves so the new kitchen hasn’t been used, and the future library was still a rough construction site last week. Food was being prepared at the high school and brought over. Work is likely to be completed by the first week in October, according to Assistant Superintendent Michael Kane. Completion date in the contract is Oct. 1, he said.

Ozzie Hammond and his companion, Lorraine Haskel, attended the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, not as delegates, but as two of the thousands of volunteers who worked on multiple jobs. Ozzie, retired after 35 years at S.D. Warren, and Lorraine met in an Elderhostel program. Ozzie owns a condo at Everett Court in Westbrook, while Lorraine owns a home in California. They split their time between the coasts, visiting family.

Bill Taylor retired Friday as the Gorham town engineer, ending a 46-year career, the last 11 with Gorham. “I know I speak for all town employees when I wish Bill and his wife Mary a very happy retirement,” said Town Manager David Cole in a memo that spoke of Taylor’s “distinguished engineering career.”

In 1948, the A & P (Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.) opened this new store at 880 Main St., on the corner of Fitch Street. Louis Kourapis had purchased an older wooden building on this site known as the Pride Block with the A & P on the first floor. The A & P relocated temporarily while Kourapis had the old building demolished and this new building constructed. When the A & P closed in the 1970s, the site was taken over by LaVerdiere’s Super Drug Store. The building is now home to Family Dollar Store. 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