Aug. 29, 1990

Camden Town Manager R. Paul Weston was hired Monday to become Gorham town manager, beginning Oct. 1. Weston, 38, will receive a salary of $55,000 a year. He had been making $40,460 in Camden since January. He has a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Maine. Before being hired by Camden in 1985, he had been town manager in Rockport and Newport. He is a native of Guilford. He and his family will remain in their Camden home while looking for a home in Gorham.

Construction of the demolition-recycling center at the Ross Grant in Gorham has been delayed by around a year, Regional Waste Systems Deputy Director Eric Root said last week. No roads have been built to the site, no earth has been turned and plans for the project haven’t even been presented to the Gorham Planning Board. That news comes following last November’s urgency to get towns to commit their credit to the project, when it was first announced. Then, RWS announced a timetable that would have the project up and running by late fall or early winter of 1990. Root said a policy change at RWS lat spring is the reason for the delay.

“If Stroudwater Street caved in, it would be repaired overnight,” Bob Tetrault, Westbrook-Maine Hardware manager, told the Westbrook Merchants Association meeting Monday. He was complaining about the closed section of Ash Street at the river behind his store. “That street is our Stroudwater Street and should be repaired today. All stores on that side of Main Street are suffering. Why isn’t it being repaired?” Tetrault made his remarks to the meeting at large, but in particular to the mayor’s administrative assistant, Peter Eckel, who was in attendance.

With a sign-up list of 55 businessmen and an agenda of things to tackle, the fledgling Westbrook Merchants Association plans a big start-up meeting Sept. 17. The meeting was set three weeks from the meeting held Monday because many businessmen said they would have been present if they had more advance notice. Two strong concerns have emerged: city rules for out-of-town lunch wagons, and one-way traffic on Main and Wayside and whether it would be good or bad. Another suggested topic is a look at city sign rules in the downtown.

At its recent annual installation of officers, Ashley Pike took office as president of the Gorham Lions Club. Lt. Gov. John Harrington conducted the installation. Vice presidents are Timothy Duffey, Dr. Joseph Kerwin and Donald Blanchard.

Aug. 30, 2000

An architect hired by Westbrook in 1992 for advice on what to do with the old high school, built in 1886, said strongly: Use it! A year later, voters in a referendum told the city they wanted the building saved. The city has kept the building in “cold storage,” with the gym and recreation office in year-round use and two rooms heated occasionally for the year-round use of the Westbrook Historical Society. The council, once again debating the fate of the building, voted Monday to kill or postpone an administration plan to offer the building up for potential purchase or lease, instead returning the discussion to the Buildings Committee.

People who live along Methodist Road in Westbrook have been getting whiffs in recent weeks of an odor that reminded one of what a piggery used to smell like, when those were common. The source is the ongoing closing of the city’s Rocky Hill Landfill. In particular, it’s the paper mill sludge that is being mixed with sand to create a topsoil for the dump’s grassy top layer. The smell shouldn’t go on much longer. The dump capping should be done this week or next, if the weather obliges. Paul Cutts, an engineer for the city, says the smell is mystifying since the city used the same sludge from the same source when it capped the Sandy Hall Landfill on Saco Street, without any such smell.

Rick Gouzie has been appointed Westbrook’s full-time code enforcement officer, after serving in the job part time since the retirement of Harry Leclair earlier this year. Gouzie has also served as the city’s plumbing inspector

The Gorham Family Fair, held earlier this month, is the annual end-of-summer event and the day was perfect in every way, according to Cathy Boisvert’s Gorham Notes. She wrote: “I love to go to the different booths and see kids and their parents working together for a cause: Boy Scouts, Rec Department, church groups, etc. When I see things like that it makes me think that maybe this society isn’t as bad as some people make it out to be. Everyone I say and spoke to had a great time. Thank you Gorham for another terrific Family Fair.”

Westbrook police say they will be looking for drunk drivers at checkpoints throughout the city this Labor Day weekend.

Vaun and Jim Born, Brook Street, Westbrook, took an extended trip to Colorado and Wyoming. As well as visiting family, Jim attended his 60th high school reunion. Although the evening news is filled with stories about wildfires out west, there was no fire danger in the area the Borns visited.

John R. Jackson of Lexington, Mass., was president and Richard C. Gamlin of Wells was vice president and general manager of Jackson Chevrolet, 91 Main St., when this photo was taken in 1964. Rowe Ford now occupies the building and site. To see more historical photos and artifacts, visit the Westbrook Historical Society at the Fred C. Wescott Building, 426 Bridge St. It is open Tuesdays and Saturdays, 9 a.m.-noon, and the first Wednesday of each month at 1:30 p.m., September-June. Inquiries can be emailed to westhistorical@myfairpoint.net. The website is www.westbrookhistoricalsociety.org. Photo and researchcourtesy of Mike Sanphy

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