May 4, 1983

Jupiter Pluvius laid his wet hand over the first day of Westbrook’s household paper recycling program Monday. A lot of the paper got wet in the rain, and William Goodman & Sons Inc., Portland, the buyer, took it reluctantly. That wasn’t the only problem. The original collector, Land Reclamation Inc., which had agreed to do the first collection this week, backed out of that part of the job and hired Paul T. Gore to do it instead. Gore was low bidder for the contract, but wasn’t to start work until June 6. In their first day’s work, Gore’s men missed some of the paper that was left out in Ward 5. If

the householders called City Hall about this, the city sent a Public Works Department truck for their paper. The crews took

the paper to a Dumpster set up behind City Hall, but it proved to have a leaky cover. Rainwater was standing inches deep in it when the public works men came to use it. They dumped the water out and used it, anyway.

Maine Mall Associates, owners of the Maine Mall, announced

that they have signed 44 leases for the space in the Maine Mall

expansion, due to open Aug. 4. Stephen Weiner, a partner in the Maine Mall Associates, said that represented 75 percent of the expansion, which will give the mall over a million square feet of floor space, making it one of the top 500 “super regional shopping centers” in the

nation.

Westbrook has lost its bid for a $91,500 federal grant for downtown marketing efforts and rent subsidies, Mayor William B. O’Gara announced to the City Council. Loss of the grant does not affect a related plan to hire a business development coordinator. The City Council has voted up to $200,000 for that job, matching whatever is raised in gifts from industry and business. The State Planning Office allocates the federal money. Twenty-one ommunities were approved for $6.5 million, but 35 others, who wanted another $14.5 million, had to be turned down.

Westbrook police notes: At 3:15 p.m., a girl called Thomas Curran, guidance counselor at the junior high, and said she was going to kill herself, but didn’t give her name. Patrolman Allanach called all the girls on the absentee list. Two roaming Irish setters were picked up on Central Street, and a female mixed Labrador was picked up on Haskell Street. Someone pushed Carl Rockwell’s trailer over the banking on Halidon Road, damaging it. A skunk was trapped in the window well of Mrs. Wendell Davis, 198 Westbrook Gardens. David

Wilson, Route 237, Gorham, said his daughter drove their car to Cinema City and parked it from 8:30 to 11 p.m. When she returned to it she found $549 damage to left and right sides, caused by kicking. In the night, someone threw a rock through each of two windows in the circle at the high school. The combined loss: $1.200. The windows are 4-feet-by-8-feet and a quarter-inch thick.

May 5, 1993

Westbrook City Councils for decades have invited public comment on every issue. The current council may not be that willing to listen. It voted Monday to consider changing its rules on public comment. Not long after that, it passed a budget-cutting motion without letting the public speak. The two incidents don’t give a clear indication that a majority of aldermen want to hear less from the public. However, it’s

the first time in memory that anyone on the City Council has talked about a limit on public comment. Westbrook’s openness and willingness to listen have been points of pride for the city. The suggestion for a change in rules comes from Alderman Don Richard, chairman of the Finance Committee and Democratic alderman from Ward 3.

Local 1069, United Papermakers and Paperworkers International, AFL-CIO, began at the S.D. Warren paper mill in Westbrook 25 years ago this year, William Carver, the local’s former president, reminded his co-workers at a dinner honoring Carver, his last day as an employee of the mill. “Over the years,” he said, “it probably has affected most the gals. Today a woman can bid on any job she can do and she gets the

same pay as a man. If there is a layoff, she is not kicked out of the mill out of hand.”

Amanda Watts, the 9-year-old Westbrook student who caught the city’s attention after choking on a hot dog, is now undergoing radiation treatments for a brain tumor. “It’s something they discovered three days after Easter,” said the girl’s mother, Denise. She spoke about the condition Monday from Maine Medical Center, where Amanda was admitted on April 22. She had spent the previous month at Boston Children’s Hospital suffering from an adult respiratory

condition. Denise said Amanda has fully recovered from the lung problem. The healing occurred by oxygenating her blood over a period of time while the young girl was in a sedated, semi-conscious state. Now she’s her regular old self. She’s talking and walking around some and will be released from the Maine Medical Center later this week.

Five aldermen sent Westbrook’s budget back to Mayor Fred Wescott Monday, with instructions to cut it 2 percent. Two percent would mean $25,000 but it would take a cut of $342,000 in the combined city-county budget to avoid any increase in the property tax, the mayor’s office said. And schools are still to be heard from in final form. The mayor and City Council president Kenneth Lefebvre fought Monday’s cut, accusing the five of ducking the hard job of picking what to cut.

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