January 1981

A four-man team led by Derwood C. Judkins, 43, of Falmouth, followed the tracks of Richard Hammer, 23, of Fairlawn, N.J., on Crocker Mountain near Sugarloaf and found him frozen to death. Injured in a 40-foot fall, Hammer’s feet were also encased in ice. He had started his climb in balmy 30-degree weather but lost his way and bitter cold set in. Judkins is a volunteer with the Wilderness Rescue Team, Waterville.

Ed McAleney is home with his wife, Jan, at Two Lights, Cape Elizabeth, after his fourth season as a defensive tackle with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. He has played football every year since starting at Memorial Junior High School, South Portland. At age 27, he’s looking beyond football at a new career, possibly as a stockbroker.

Scarborough’s $28,750,000 sewer-sewage treatment project will start this spring with construction of the Black Point Road sewer.

Alexander Bacon “Sandy” Brook bought the Kennebunk Star in 1955 for a reported $35,000, transformed it into the York County Coast Star, twice won best American weekly newspaper of the year, and sold it for a reported $1 million.

A letter from Mrs. Jeannie Washburn thanks Local 1069, United Paperworkers, for its annual children’s Santa Claus party on Bridge Street, Westbrook.

Mrs. Elmer Pike, South Street, Gorham, entertained 15 family members and friends at an open house on Christmas afternoon.

The Westbrook Food Cooperative is forming. Call Janine Hoffman, South Windham.

Metro bus fares went up Jan. 1. The new cash fare is 50 cents.

Windham Town Manager Kathleen Jenks is proposing a town budget of $2 million for 1981, up 22 percent.

The Scarborough Sanitary District’s operating budget for 1981 is $196,870, up 18.6 percent.

Scarborough Recreation is still accepting student sign-ups for downhill skiing at Lost Valley and for racquetball at South Portland’s Play-Off club.

Mrs. Linda Norton is coordinator for delivery of “Meals on Wheels” daily to 33 senior citizens in Standish and Gorham. On Christmas Day, she delivered two of those meals herself, along with carols by two carloads of children, her own and her nieces and nephews.

January 1991

Construction is well under way on the Westbrook Housing Authority’s elderly housing complex on East Bridge Street, but now there’s a problem – a 1977 city ordinance that requires a sewer hook-up fee of $1,000 per apartment. The project calls for 100 apartments. Who’s to pay the $100,000?

Scarborough’s blockhouse should come down, says its owner, the Scarborough Chamber of Commerce. A move is under way to save it. The two-story historic-looking blockhouse was built and used as a tourist information center, but recently has been idle. It can be a liability, warns lawyer Dan Warren.

The push is on for a $36 million convention center in downtown Portland. A new tax on meals and lodging would raise money for it.

Big plans are moving ahead for the Eaglebrook development at the Spring Valley golf course in Scarborough – plans for houses, child care, elderly care, a nursing home, town hall and six office buildings.

In a letter, Diana McCain of Windham warns that President Bush’s Iraq-Kuwait policies and failure to support a peaceful Israeli-Palestinian settlement are paving the way for World War III.

Westbrook has received three bids for re-roofing the police station, where leaks are causing serious second-floor damage.

The Prides Corner Kiwanis Club held a Christmas light contest for homes, $25 for first place, $15 for second place.

A Christmas Song by South Portland native Steve Romanoff and recorded by his Schooner Fare trio has won national attention. It’s “What Christmas Means To Me.” He said he hopes for a success “along the lines of Mel Torme’s ‘Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.'”

An ad offers 10 days on three islands in Hawaii for $1,475.

The late William Curlew left $5,000 to the Scarborough Rescue Unit.

The number of new applicants for welfare assistance in Gorham is 46 percent higher than it was last year.

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