April 6, 1983
Last month was the second wettest March ever recorded by the
National Water Service in the Portland area. Records have been kept since 1871. Rainfall measured 9.75 inches, while the normal rainfall for March is 3.98 inches. The record was set in 1953 when 9.97 inches of rain fell in March. The level of Sebago Lake rose a foot from March 10-17. It rose 2 feet from March 17-24, bringing it to 266.62 feet above mean tide, a record for that week in the 25 years the Portland Water District has been keeping track.
Locke Office Products Inc. has opened its first retail store in
conjunction with its expansion into the one-time Chevrolet regional headquarters building at Exit 8 on the Westbrook-Portland line. Charles E. Locke, Cumberland Foreside, the president has moved his offices from Falmouth to the Exit 8 building, which also houses central sales service and warehouse facilities for the company’s two-state operation. Richard Chaplin, Libby Avenue in Westbrook, has been named manager of the new retail store. Chaplin had been employed for the past 13 years at Loring, Short & Harmon, Portland.
The Westbrook City Council OK’d repairs of up to $4,000 for the diesel engine of an International dump and plow work truck of the Westbrook Public Works Department. Jim Wright, foreman, reported to Public Works Director Ken Eastman that the engine “ran away” during shop work involving changing a fuel pump and all the engine’s injectors.
In what seemed to be a delayed reaction to arguments voiced last week, the Westbrook City Council refused, 4-3, to spend $1,500 to put in a concrete sidewalk on Ash Street next to the new Village Laundry building at Ash and Main streets. Aldermen Bernard Blanchet and Norman Conley were alone in opposing the expense last week. This week, they were joined by Aldermen James Foley and Beverly Morin.
The proposed Gorham school budget for 1983-84 includes $8,000 for classroom wall dividers for the open-concept area. However, the item is not listed in the basic “Part I” budget proposal, but is included in the “Part II” budget of “optional” expenditures. The School Committee will look at the open concept room and other possible areas of improvement at the high school during a budget workshop April 7.
The office of District Attorney Paul Aranson said this week that he has not made a decision yet on whether to take action in the auto death of Alice L. Cowley in Gorham March 5. Jeffrey R. Nason, 26, of Gorham, has been identified as the driver of the car that collided with Mrs. Crowley’s. Police said Nason apparently fell asleep, veered off the road to the left, and was trying to return to his lane when the vehicles collided. Mrs. Crowley was 65 years old and lived in Standish.
April 7, 1993
In a no-debate, “under the hammer” ruling, the Maine House has decided that Gerald Hillock will keep his seat as the District 35 House representative (parts of Westbrook, Gorham and Windham). “It just went through. I’m seated officially” as of about 10:15 a.m., Hillock reported. He had held the seat “conditionally” since December.
The Gorham School Committee wants to build a new middle school to replace the Charles C. Shaw School, where 298 seventh- and eighth-grade students attend. The panel voted unanimously to pursue state approval, but gave no estimates of construction costs. The school’s original section was built in 1938, and a back expansion was completed in 1978.
A letter from Mayor Fred Wescott had an influence as Westbrook aldermen voted 5-1 against a contract calling for Richard Ranaghan to make cost studies of city government. Ranaghan said he’d be paid from what he saved the city; he’d take 20 percent of the savings.
“Don’t offer those expensive whitewater trips to us – but do give us a place to use our skateboards.” That’s a message Westbrook police got from the young people of the Seavey Street area. Police now have asked the neighborhood to work through Ward 1 Alderman Lionel Dumond to look for a way to set up a skateboard park in the area.
Cablecasting of Westbrook School Committee will start April 14, Michael Kane told the School Committee. “Don’t wear white,” they were told by Public Cable’s Paul Leonard. It doesn’t look white on TV, he explained.
Gov. John McKernan has named Alperton H. Hawks, Westbrook, to the Maine State Museum Commission. Hawkes, of 68 Hardy Road, is the former proprietor of Hawkes Television of Westbrook and nationally known country music musician.
Drainage problems have sunk a Gorham Town Council proposal to give Habitat for Humanity a one-acre parcel at the intersection of Mitchell Hill and Burnham Hill roads. The council hadn’t realized that the lot had been given to the town as unsuitable for a home and was to be used as a water retention area for houses in the area.
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