September 1982
A series of events suggests that the Westbrook School Committee may be thinking about whether to renew the contract of Superintendent Carl F. Knowlton next June 30. The series began with open criticism of two actions by the superintendent in the board’s meeting in August. Since then, the committee has been holding hush-hush meetings weekly. In the first of those meetings, the full committee talked alone for two hours with a lawyer about what he said later is its “rights,” duties and responsibilities in a legal matter. Elizabeth Giguere, chairwoman of the school committee, has refused to say what is being discussed. The American Journal challenged the committee on the vagueness of its explanations –
“Discussion of a personnel matter” – but received no explanation.
From the police log: Firemen were called to take down obscene signs at the high school ball field. At 7:30 they were called to
Riverview Terrace housing for the elderly when burnt toast set off a smoke alarm. Tires of “numerous” cars were slashed during a high school football game. Air was let out of the tires of all 15 bikes in the bike rack, and the car of Nancy Crump, 112 Pierce St., was vandalized.
Chris Reynolds, 3 months old, suffered a hairline fracture of the skull when his mother fell while carrying him in the Westbrook Post Office parking lot. Mrs. Reynolds said he appears to be recovering well. “Mentally, he’s doing better than I am,” she said, recalling the fright of her fall.
Westbrook’s Zoning Board of Appeals Board voted 3-2 to let the Twenty-Four Hour Club open a branch in the former Bishop nursing home at 17 Brook St. Opposition of neighbors was vigorous, and the session lasted more than two hours. The club is a shelter for alcoholics. It proposes a convalescent home in Westbrook to supplement services it offers at 65 India St., Portland.
Gorham’s proposed White Rock fire station won voter approval, though only 677 residents cast ballots. The site plan for construction of the 2 1/2 bay station, to be located on Wilson Road, was approved by the planning board.
Howard Dupee, development officer for York-Cumberland Housing, went before the Gorham Planning Board for review of a special exception request to include office space in a proposed 20-unit elderly housing project. The board recommended that the Gorham Zoning Appeals Board approve the request.
September 1992
Japan reminds Lauritz Dyhrberg of Mother Warren days in Westbrook. Dyhrberg, who teaches social studies in Westbrook High School, got a red-carpet tour of Japan this summer in a group of guests of Keizai Koho -the Japan Institute for Social and Economic Affairs. The attitudes toward work and the company you work for in Japan today are like those Dyhrberg remembers from his boyhood, when Westbrook and the
S.D. Warren Co. were almost one and the same thing, and when it was more common for whole families to work for generations in the paper mill, with fathers and mothers counting on children to follow them there. “In Japan,” he said, “once you go to work for a company you stay there for life, unless you steal. There are street people, but not very many
– not by our standards.
S.D. Warren’s top union representatives in Westbrook were called to meet with the mill manager. Speculation was that Westbrook is losing its sheeting operation to a new $8 million sheeting mill under construction in Allentown, Pa., to open in next two years, reducing the 230 Warren sheeting jobs to 60 persons in Allentown. It will handle all the paper from Westbrook, Skowhegan and Mobile, Ala., and possibly other mills, according to worker sources. Rolls would be trucked from Westbrook.
Westbrook will welcome Gary K. Hayward, president of Pasadena’s Tournament of Roses, and his wife, Sharon, with a parade and ceremonies. The parade forms on Longfellow Street and steps out at 9 a.m. Those who come to watch the parade are invited to fall in behind the last unit – the California-bound Westbrook High School Marching Band – and walk to the high school for the ceremonies
Squeezed by a new state law, a group of operators of day-care homes is asking Westbrook to allow them in R-3 zones. Nancy M. Peters said she thinks at least 10 day-care operators would be affected, apparently all operating in R-3 zones without clear local authorization. The new state law requires home operators to shows that they meet all local rules before they can get a state license. Peters brought the question to the planning board. With little discussion, the board agreed to hold a hearing.
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