August 1980

Donald S. White, 52, president of White Construction Co., died and his wife was hurt seriously in Lebanon when an out-of-state car skidded into their car on Route 202 while passing at a wet place. Mayor William B. O’Gara is calling for naming Bicentennial Park “the Donald S. White Bicentennial Park” to remember White’s contributions to the park and to other public services. South Portland City Manager Ronald Stewart said White’s death is a loss to all of us.”

The Granby (Conn.) Ancient Fyfe and Drum Corps., in tri-corner hats, knickers and buckled shoes is pictured marching in the 11th annual Maine Militia Muster in North Windham.

Julian Cohen, managing partner of the Maine Mall, announced Friday that Filene’s will build a 100,000-square-foot store at the Mall.

Gorham voters recalled the town budget in 1978 by a 3-to-1 margin. They recalled this year’s budget by a whisker, 1,202-1,181.

The state plans safety improvements at the Scarborough intersection of the Beech Ridge Road and Route 114, where a firefighter was killed and eight were hurt when two fire trucks collided March 8. Trees will be cut, a gully filled, a flashing beacon installed, and signs improved.

The state wants to squeeze northbound Route 1 traffic into one lane at Dunstan Corner, Scarborough.

United Maine Craftsmen will hold a Craft Fair at Cumberland Fairgrounds Aug. 8.

Don Doane’s band will play in Saccarappa Falls Park, Westbrook, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. today.

August 1990

Julia Romanova, 15, of Moscow, Russia, was a four-day guest in the Elsmere Avenue, South Portland, home of Alison Doyle, 14, after they met in the Samantha Smith World Peace Camp in Poland Spring.

With a $4,000 grant from the state’s OUI Emphasis Program, police in Gorham will be doing more patrolling for drunk drivers and will use some temporary roadblocks for random testing, said Chief David Kurz.

Mayor Fred Wescott favors a $1.6 million conversion of the old Westbrook High School into a new City Hall. He also proposes street and sewer improvements in a six-year capital spending program to cost $10.4 million, to be paid with $4.8 million in operating budgets and the rest borrowed. Total city debt would peak at $16 million and then hold in the $12 to $14 million range, said Peter Eckel, the mayor’s administrative assistant.

In a letter, Jonathan Malmude, Limerick, says the backers of Vision 2000 are trying to sell Maine on the “efficiency” of doing away with elected officers and going instead to a Super County Government, a “metrocrat planocracy” with power to tax property, sales and income.

A woman’s car was hit by an egg thrown from the Woodlawn Avenue overpass as she drove on the Westbrook Arterial.

Don Richards was the only alderman opposed as Westbrook’s City Council approved the school budget. He said Westbrook’s per-pupil cost is the state’s 34th highest.

Robert Barton, citizen, said the school board “gives the Council a blank check to sign. The school board is always right, and that’s what has been wrong for so many years.”

South Portland City Councilor Robert Fickett wants the federal government to loan money interest-free to local governments for capital improvements, by-passing the Federal Reserve system. The U. S. Constitution gives Congress the power to coin money; Congress gave that power to the Federal Reserve, and ought to take it back, he said. The Federal Reserve uses the money to make money (interest) for itself, he said.

Gerrie Brown, Ocean Street, South Portland, has received an award from the Giraffe Project (“honoring people who stick their neck out for the common good”) for her sponsorship of WINGS, a support group for low-income single parents.

The South Portland Fire Department will replace its 21-year-old Ladder Two with a $402,355 truck with 10-man cab and 100-foot serial ladder with water piping. It will be housed at the Willard Station on Pillsbury Street, said Chief Philip McGouldrick, The city is buying it through Anton Enterprises, Scarborough.

Gorham’s new town planner is John “Jay” Grande, 30, who is leaving the planner’s job in Wareham, Mass.

On her 90th birthday, Dorothy L. Philbrook, Burton Street, Westbrook, was honored at a party at her cottage on Codman Island, Megunticook Lake, Camden. Guests came from eight states. The party is one of 11 social notes reported by Florence Wing, another of her weekly columns in the American Journal, this one 45 inches long.

Among Elsie Haskell’s Windham Notes is a report of a climb up Mount Blue, Weld, by Paul and Carla LaRoche, River Road, Windham, and children Sarah, Elizabeth and Matthew, with a dip in a mountain pool.

Rev. William Sloane Coffin famed of segregation and the Vietnam War, 18 years chaplain of Yale University, will deliver the sermon Sunday in the Windham Hill United Church of Christ.

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