Aug. 3, 1988

Maine Rubber International hasn’t given up on plans to burn hospital wastes in downtown Westbrook, even though it currently does not have an active license application before the Department of Environmental Protection. Though City Solicitor Michael Cooper told the City Council Thursday that based on the DEP license withdrawal, Maine Rubber has given up on plans to burn the hospital wastes, Douglas Bagin, company president, said Tuesday they haven’t given up – they’ve just switched the game plan. The company is “exploring the possibility joining with an experienced company presently involved in medical waste incineration,” Bagin said. Once a partnership is formed, a new DEP application would be submitted.

Westbrook aldermen refused last week to put a moratorium of development in a big area around, but not including, the Saunders Bros. dowel mill and Saunders land, when they learned that landowners had not been notified. “If I owned a piece of land I’d want to know about it and hear it discussed, rather than read it in the papers,” said Alderman Alexander Juniewicz. The moratorium was asked by the Planning Board, and Alderman Fred Wescott was told that landowners weren’t notified of the board’s discussion, either. On Wescott’s motion, the council voted 5-1 to table the moratorium resolution. The Planning Board asked for a six-month bad on all development while it works out rezoning of that area. It wants a new “mixed use” zone in an area now zoned Industrial, and asked for the same moratorium on Business Highway land adjoining.

Trustees of Westbrook’s Riverbank Park have agreed to a proposal by the Knights of Columbus to raise funds and build a bandstand, Mayor Philip Spiller told the City Council. “They want to discuss the design and location,” he said. “They don’t want one that the public can’t get under, in case of fire.”

Gorham’s first full-time town planner, Keith Moe, 30, is resigning effective Aug. 12 to take a position as environmental engineer at E.C. Jordan Co. in Portland. He was hired in August 1986, replacing Mark Eyerman, who served both Gorham and Westbrook on a part-time basis. His permanent replacement probably won’t come on board before October. In the interim, a temporary planner will be hired from the Greater Portland Council of Governments, according to Gorham Town Manager Don Gerrish.

Gorham’s Planning Board voted 6-0 Monday to recommend denial of Ada Brown’s requests for zoning changes in two Little Falls residential areas, one to permit businesses, the other to permit offices and businesses. “I’d like to get out of Gorham as fast as I can,” the disappointed former five-term state representative said after the meeting. Leo Kimball and Bill Billings, Little Falls businessmen, led opposition in a public hearing, arguing against further commercialism in the area. The Planning Board’s recommendation now goes to the Town Council, which can approved or deny the requests.

Lucille Carter, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Carter, Maplewood Drive, Gorham, has accepted a fourth-grade teaching position at the Frank Jewett School in Buxton. She is a spring graduate of the University of Maine.

Aug. 5, 1998

City Council President James Garland suggested Monday that a proposal to stagger the terms of Westbrook city officers by split away from a proposal to lengthen their terms to three years. The municipal officers (mayor and City Council) appear ready to make up their minds about these and other proposed charter changes at the meeting Aug. 17. The charges are being prepared as a resolution – a one-meeting action. A question was raised Monday but not answered: Do the charter changes require that the city for a charter commission?

The state is negotiating to buy part of the 911,000 acres of Maine Woodlands owned by the Sappi mill, according to Dennis Bailey, of Gov. Angus King’s office. Sappi spokeswoman Melanie Otero confirmed that Sappi and the state are negotiating, but neither she nor Bailey would name which areas were being discussed. All of part of Sappi’s 60 miles of Moosehead Lake shoreline is expected to be included in any deal.

Students named to the University of Southern Maine’s Phil Kappa Phi national honor society include Jennifer H. Cummings of Gorham, a junior majoring in social science; Trevor D. Jones, Gorham, a senior business administration major; Jeremy Craig Owens, who graduated this spring with a psychology degree; Valerie M. Cook, Westbrook, a senior in the school of nursing; and Scott B. Rowe, Westbrook, a major in Hispanic studies.

The Westbrook City Council has approved on first reading a $99,700 contract for Earl Glidden Paving and Excavating, Gorham, to repair nearly 25,000 feet of city sidewalks. Normally, the work would not begin until after second reading by the council. But Goerge Googins, public works director, said he might ask Glidden be allowed to start sooner. Sidewalks to be repaired or replaced are on Pierce, Bridge, East Bridge, Brackett and Main streets, and New Gorham Road and Route 25.

Buying a portable classroom building costs less than leasing it, but the state won’t help schools buy portables – it will only pay if they’re leased. So the Gorham Town Council was expected last night to buy a third portable classroom building for White Rock School for $48,095, and lease it to the schools for a five-year total of $57,600, all of which will come from the state. “The state is aware that municipalities are doing this,” said Town Manager David Cole.

You don’t have to be the grower of everything you offer for sale in a Gorham roadside stand, the Appeals Board has ruled. It allowed Hawkes Main Street Market, 241 Main St., to add bread, eggs and dairy products to its traditional line of produce, flowers and herbs. The market, owned by Jeffrey and Bonnie Hawkes, has expanded in season on and off since the 1930s, selling home-grown produce and flowers. The Hawkeses want to improve sales by offering bread, eggs and dairy purchased form outside sources.

The Gorham Senior Mealsite program, which provides meals and assistance at St. Anne’s Church to elderly Gorham residents on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, will be closed for the month and August and first two weeks of September while the church is painted and a new driveway put it. “We normally close down for a few weeks in the summer, although this is a little longer,” said Claudette Charest, the meals program coordinator. About 40-50 people are served on Tuesdays and about 80 on Wednesdays, she said.

50 Years Ago

The Westbrook American reported on July 31, 1963, that Gorham residents Mr. and Mrs. Robert Mountain, formerly of Maple Street, have purchased the home on Green Street recently occupied by the Walter Moores.

Mildred Gorham of Salmon Falls had recently entertained for the weekend her brother, Herbert Marston of Old Orchard Beach.

The old Marian Hotel was built in the 1880s and was located across from the Walker Memorial Library at 805 Main St. When the hotel closed, the building was converted to apartments. The building was razed during urban renewal and the site is a grassy lot with a gazebo. To see more historical photos and artifacts, visit the Westbrook Historical Society at the Fred C. Wescott Building, 426 Bridge St. Inquiries can be emailed to westhistorical@myfairpoint.net. The website is www.westbrookhistoricalsociety.org.

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