January 1981
Maurice Gleckman, manager of Westbrook Hardware, and his wife Frances, his assistant, will retire Jan. 31. “The Dean of Downtown,” he has been at the store since 1945. Other long-time downtowners include Bill Rocheleau, men’s clothing; Hubert “Storm” Hebert, food; Roland Albert and his father Auguste Albert, Men’s Shop, family clothing; Phil and Paul Stultz, Stultz Electric; John Graves, Westbrook Trust Co; and Fred Legere, Day’s Jewelry. Westbrook Hardware, founded about 1840, has competed with three other Westbrook hardware stores, and three other stores carry hardware lines.
Westbrook is switching its fiscal year from Jan. 1-Dec.31 to July 1-June 30. The city will send property tax bills every six months.
Westbrook Mayor William O’Gara named Jonathan Carter, 28, of Sanford, as his administrative assistant. He succeeds Harold Parks, who left to be city manager of Rockland.
Ronald Reagan is sworn in as President of the United States.
Tours are offered of six passive solar homes in North Windham.
John W. Huoy is a new member of the Scarborough Police Department.
The Scarborough Recreation Department and Scarborough Chamber of Commerce are holding a snow-sculpturing contest.
South Portland’s Board of Education is cutting the size of kindergarten classes, from 25 students to 10 to 15 with maximum of 20.
January 1991
Scott Paper Co. announced in Philadelphia that it intends to sell within a year the S.D. Warren paper mill in Westbrook, in the course of cutting back to its core businesses – – personal care tissues, and quality coated printing papers. The announcement didn’t face up to the question of why the Westbrook mill, with a long history of producing quality coated printing papers, doesn’t fit as a part of the core business. But the Westbrook mill is small, slow, and costly to run, and its sulfur odor in the metropolitan area is a frequent source of complaints. Scott’s announcement is a heavy blow to Westbrook and the area. The mill has been making paper 137 years. It pays 38.5 percent of the city’s property taxes, and its employees and suppliers pay large amounts too. The S. D. Warren research lab, which employs about 200, will stay. About 25 percent of general management people face early layoff. Total employment at the mill is about 2,000. Between payroll, taxes and purchase of supplies and services, the mill accounts for about $175 million a year, it’s estimated by William Carver, president of the 1,000-member Local 1069, United Papermakers Union.
Donald Simpson, Jr. has lived in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 11 years; he’s an engineer for Arabian-American Oil Co. Recently the U. S. Army used his garage to store 5,000 frozen hamburger patties for troops, and Simpson wound up helping cook them. He knows how; his grandfather, father and siblings sold Simpson-burgers (hamburgers) in Westbrook for decades.
Windham’s Planning board has approved a 600-foot access road from the Windemere housing development for the Portland Water District’s new standpipe. Neighbors object.
The Windham Chamber of Commerce named Henry Valente “Businessperson of the Year.” He is the owner of Pinelyne Furniture Co.
Police Officer Larry Ferrante, 29, serves full-time in Bonny Eagle High School. He wears his uniform and carries a gun and works out of a small office. He talks to classes on questions of conduct, polices the parking lot and nearby stores for truancy, answers students’ questions. It’s one-third each policeman, social worker and teacher, he said. He’s the only full-time police officer in a local area high school.
This was the fifth Christmas for the triplets Kendra, Jordan and Kristen of Mr. and Mrs. Stokes Nelson, Birch Forest Drive, Windham.
“We Love to Eat” lists 10 public suppers Friday or Saturday – roast beef at the Manchester Legion Post and Raymond Village Church, fish chowder at St. Ann’s Church, Windham, and beans with extras at New Gloucester Amvets, West Scarborough Church, Peoples Church, Thornton Heights Church, Scarborough Legion, North Scarboro Grange and Sanborn Hall, Gorham.
The first babies born in the area in 1991 are Brandon Michael Gross, son of Gloria (Davis) and Brent Gross, 771 Cumberland St., Westbrook, and Christopher Corey Haycock, son of Deborah (Behuniak) and Thomas P. Haycock, 11 Colonial Road, South Portland.
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