November, 1980

Referendum votes coming in December on local questions in Gorham, Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth inspire 16 letters to the editor in this week’s American Journal, some of them quite long. Twelve are on the Gorham question of whether to start curbside collection of wastes.

Some tenants of the South Portland Housing Authority have installed their own washing machines. SPHA is considering banning them.

At Hanley School in South Portland, Jack Hayes is teaching English to three Cambodian refugees, Leakana El, Seak Chea and Mao Chea. They are children of families who fled Pol Pot.

Gorham public safety dispatchers voted 4-1 Wednesday to form a local union of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO.

The Westbrook City Council approved $8,023 for planting 213 trees along Westbrook streets. Municipal Forester Wes McKague plans the most plantings for Main and Rochester streets. A state subsidy and homeowners’ service fees will cut the net cost to $2,000, he said.

Scarborough Town Council Chairman Francis Amoroso asked Public Cable Co. to extend its lines farther throughout the community.

November, 1990

Layoffs are rumored at the S. D. Warren paper mill in Westbrook, but the company will have nothing definite to report until after the first of the year, it said.

Martha Day, 25, of Oakland Avenue, was named to the Westbrook School Committee Monday to replace Michael Clancy, who resigned. The choice was made by the School Committee, which first voted 3-3, Day and Raymond St. Pierre, then settled on Day.

The Portland Water District has a new water tank on Freeman Hill, Windham. Now it wants to build a road to it from a dead-end street in the Windemere housing development. Windemere residents are unhappy with that idea.

Gorham won the Ram Classic – a basketball tournament among teams named the Rams – Gorham, Deering, Cony and Kennebunk.

The firm of Norman, Hanson and DeTroy has been hired temporarily as the City of South Portland’s corporation counsel.

Westbrook Police Patrolman Thomas Roche may be called to active duty with his Marine Corps Reserve unit, specialists in anti-tank warfare. They may be sent to Saudi Arabia.

A student has been chewing tobacco in a Westbrook High School automobile mechanics’ class. Because of him, a school policy that forbids smoking on school property has been changed to forbid any use of tobacco.

Police Chief Ronald Allanach suspended Sgt. Michael McCaffrey two days – one for unnecessarily drawing his revolver and one for an improper arrest.

Jason Jones, 3, of 972 Spring St., Westbrook, was wounded in the neck by a bullet from a handgun his father was cleaning.

Any Westbrook student who gets head lice a second time will be barred from school until a school nurse OKs his or her return, under a rule proposed by Superintendent Edward Connolly.

Maine Hardware has been sold to United Realty, Inc., Portland, and Peter E. Zimmerman, Cape Elizabeth, a former executive with Carroll Reed Stores. It had been owned 10 years by Walter Abbott, Cumberland, and Michael Sandler, Portland. It is described as Maine’s oldest and largest privately held hardware chain, with stores in Portland, Biddeford, Westbrook and Brunswick.

The South Portland City Council has postponed for six months a decision on whether to vacate a paper street, a portion of Highview Avenue. A neighbor wants to build on it.

The eighth annual Christmas lighting ceremony will be held at South Portland’s Mill Creek Friday.

James Soule is South Portland’s next mayor, by vote of the City Council.

South Portland has sold city land on Running Hill Road near the Maine Mall to Sable Oak Properties for $300,000.

Gorham’s annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Robie Gym will be at 4 p.m. Dec. 1.

Hannaford Brothers plans a $15 million shopping center at the 62-acre former racetrack on Narragansett Street, Gorham.

The Big Lake Summer Festival in Standish will be bigger and better than ever in 1991, the committee tells us.

The Maine State Grange has honored David and Jeanne Burnham, County Road, Scarborough, as Maine’s Farm Family of the Year. They have four daughters and seven grandchildren. One of the products of their farm is hay; they are a principal supplier of hay for Atlantic Antibodies, Windham, which keeps 500 goats.

The construction value of building permits issued last month in Scarborough was $338,900, lowest for any month in 6-1/2 years.

A free Christmas dinner for senior citizens of Westbrook will be held by St. Hyacinth Church in its hall Saturday, Dec. 9, with partial support by businesses and service clubs.

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