Nov. 10, 1982
The possibility of Gorham’s taking over fire and rescue dispatch
service for the town of Standish is being discussed by the two
municipalities. The purpose would be to save money. “Citizens have asked us to look into the cost of having Standish dispatch handled by Gorham, versus what it’s costing us now,” said Standish Selectman Neal Mosley. All town officials contacted emphasized that the discussion is in the preliminary stage, and any change would have to be approved at town meetings of both towns.
Westbrook’s school committee will hold a special meeting in the junior high with top school administrators, followed by a
public meeting, to announce its choice of an acting
superintendent. Unofficial reports are that Edward Connolly, the elementary curriculum director, was picked and is meeting informally with the other administrators on his plans.
Auguste Albert, 82, chairman of the board and long-time president of The Men’s Shop, died of cancer shortly after midnight Thursday morning. His funeral Saturday almost filled the big St. Hyacinth Church and a long procession followed the hearse to St. Hyacinth Cemetery in Westbrook.
The Westbrook School Committee put off action on the first request it has received for “sick bank” leave. The
request is from Marlene Manoogian, kindergarten teacher, whose husband, Archie, on the high school faculty, represented her in the meeting. The sick bank is provided by the contribution of a day sick leave from each member of the Westbrook Education Association, the teachers’ union. When those days are used up, each member will give another day. Persons using sick bank leave must have used up
their own sick leave and be facing a long illness. Committee members said they had a “catastrophic” illness in mind when they negotiated the sick bank in the latest teachers’ contract. Marlene Manoogian submitted a statement from Dr. Joseph E. Earnhardt that she was admitted to Westbrook Community Hospital Oct. 15 and isn’t expected to be ready for work until early January. “When a person falls and has her skull fractured in two places and could have died, it’s certainly catastrophic,” her husband told the committee.
Nov. 11, 1992
Some ballots were counted twice in Precinct 1 of Ward 1 in Westbrook Nov. 3. That, combined with a late-hour report in this heavily watched election, probably means voting machines next year. With hand counting, the last Westbrook results weren’t reported until after 4 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4. The double counts in Ward 1 were discovered Wednesday. Someone noticed that totals added up to more than the number of voters. No results were changed when the errors were
corrected, since all the votes were counted twice.
From the police log: At 8 p.m. on Halloween in Westbrook, a tall blond man wearing a hockey mask approached a woman at Lawrence and Taggart Streets. Police went to a Webb Street apartment house where water was reported to be coming through the roof onto the electrical box. They found a
very drunk woman and broken water heater.
Westbrook is ready to spend a $50,000 Jobs Bond grant to construct a new city council meeting place in the City Hall Annex, the one-time manual training building behind the old high school. The council gave
final approval last week to a contract with NorCoeur Construction Co., Inc. 90 East Bridge St., Westbrook, to do the work.
Shaw Junior High School will overflow with students within three years, Portland architect Joe Feely told the Gorham School Committee recently, as he presented an update to the system’s master plan. “The Shaw school, one of six facilities in the Gorham system, represents the greatest challenge over the next five years,” wrote consultants. “The projected 35 percent increase in students simply cannot be absorbed by the existing facility.”
Westbrook voters passed a charter change, with 70 percent
of voters in favor. The change apparently takes effect Jan. 1. Whether the school committee will go to court to block the change remained in doubt. The charter change requires two readings and two formal votes by the school committee on any purchase over $1,000. The committee hired a lawyer for advice on the charter question and has talked of taking the city to court to block the change.
On Halloween night, two men wearing grotesque rubber masks walked into Show Me Video, Westbrook. Each produced a canister of dry-powder fire extinguisher and released the contents into the air. The powder settled onto everything in the store, covering surfaces with grit. It destroyed a computer, two TVs and several VCRs. Alderman Lionel Dumond, who owns the store, had just left the store when the vandals
came in. Personnel called police at 8:12 p.m. The two men have not been identified. “I had insurance,” Dumond said.
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