May 1981
Kelly L. Boothby, Gorham, and Tracy L. Gowen, Scarborough, are winners of four-year college scholarships in the National Merit Scholarship Program.
Orland H. Mayberry, 83, is the man principally responsible for the tip-top condition of Scarborough’s Dunstan Cemetery, as Memorial Day approaches. He has been the custodian 19 years.
Memorial Day will be observed Monday, May 25, with parades and ceremonies in all the suburban communities.
Arno Noack is president of the tenants of Longfellow Place, public housing in Westbrook.
The S. D. Warren Division of Scott Paper Co. will honor six men who have received patents in the past year.
Pine State Byproducts has been fined $25,000 for odors in South Portland. A Superior Court judge ruled that it has violated a 14-year-old agreement on air pollution.
Loretta Hawkes, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George W. Hawkes, Standish, was five years old April 21. She is a granddaughter of Edna Hawkes, longtime office manager of the American Journal.
Ann Tripp is the first woman ever elected to the Windham Town Council, which was established in 1974. No woman ever served on the Board of Selectmen, according to records of Town Clerk Barbara Strout. Strout was re-elected for her eighth two-year term, with the day’s highest vote. Also elected were Gary Payne, Council, and Melvin Winslow and John Bernier, School Committee. Tripp, Winslow and Strout are Republicans, Payne and Bernier are Democrats.
A photo for the American Journal by Ray Foley shows Rick Robey and Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics, newly crowned world champions.
Tracy L. Gowen is valedictorian and Nancy J. Littlejohn is salutatorian of Gorham High School this year. Their parents are Mr. and Mrs. Fred G. Gowen and Mr. and Mrs. William J. Littlejohn.
Mrs. Malcolm Durgin, Gorham, and Mrs. Al Ayre, South Portland, showed their Newfoundlands in a dog show in Clarksville, Ind., winning honors.
May 1991
Westbrook’s Mobile Home Rent Justification Board voted 2-1 to give a 25 percent increase in lot rents to the owners of The Hamlet, to give them a fair return on their investment. The board was created under an ordinance drawn by City Solicitor Michael Cooper and was guided by Cooper in its decision. It is the only rent control in Maine. The Hamlet reportedly has 26 vacancies in its 288 units. Tenants pay utilities and city taxes.
In Gorham, Fred Robinson, a 23-year member (18 years captain) of the Fire Department wants a referendum on a plan to give free housing in the Municipal Center to students of the University of Southern Maine who serve as firemen.
Judy Roy, chairman of the Scarborough Town Council, walked out of a meeting to review the town charter after Jacqueline Perry, veteran school board member, offered her own version of Roy’s views.
David Tobin and Thomas Bartell, Republicans, are unopposed to fill the seats of Harold Haskell and Richard Davidson on the Windham Town Council. Terms are three years. Two-term clerk Rita Bernier also is unopposed.
A pile of about 4,000 rubber tires burned seven hours at Westbrook’s Sandy Hill landfill off Saco Street. Smoke was so thick that Deputy Fire Chief Gerald Pellerin, on his way to the fire, had to turn on his headlights in downtown Westbrook. The fire may have been set.
Gorham’s Duke McKeil is back from Archangel with a report of a mostly demoralized citizenry. The headline: “Collective Insufficiency.”
South Portland’s City Council wants to hold any school spending to 5 percent. The school board, which wanted 8.2 percent more, cut its request Monday to 5.8 percent.
Westbrook City Solicitor Michael Cooper told the city council that under the will of Gerald “Joe” Fluett, any City Council can spend all of the balance of the estate he left to Walker Memorial Library. The amount of his bequest was said earlier to be $600,000, Cooper did not give a current figure. The council worked on a trust agreement covering the bequest. Alderman Don Richards suggested that half of the interest earned by his money be added to the principal. Council President Kenneth Lefebvre led a majority in defeating it.
The Pride’s Corner Kiwanis Club is offering free smoke detectors to Westbrook homeowners over age 55 or who are single parents.
Dennis Rand is Windham High School’s valedictorian, and Ethan Crain is salutatorian. They are sons of Anna and Steven Rand, Standish and Stephen Crain, Windham.
The Westbrook-Gorham Rotary Club has given money to the tree-planting program of Westbrook’s municipal forester, Wesley McKague.
Fort Hill Cemetery, in Gorham, with grave markers back to the mid 1700s, has been spruced up by Boy Scouts of Troop 72, led by Mark Bevan, Pine Knoll Terrace, Westbrook. They are assisting with general improvements being made by Gorham’s Public Works Department under its director, Jim Plummer.
Frye Island Incorporated, made up of 625 people who own property on the island, is thinking about seceding from the town of Standish. The islanders pay taxes and send their trash to Standish, but that’s their only connection. They get to the mainland from April through November on the ferry to Raymond.
Nicholas Cole, 6, fell off a dock into Sebago Lake. Christa Murphy, 10, tried to reach him but couldn’t so she jumped into the lake and, holding onto the pier, was able to stretch far enough to grab Nicholas and pulled him to safety. Gorham held a ceremony honoring Christa. She’s the daughter of John and Binita Murphy.
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