Aug. 31, 1988

The Westbrook Planning Board last week unanimously approved Matty DiRenzo’s site plan request to build an 1,800-square-foot, two-story building on a vacant lot across from Riverbank Park that has been home to the Chau-Ngoc Lunch Wagon for the past three years. Rather than losing his site, however, Tien Tan Chau will be gaining a permanent home to sell his food – in his new Chau-Ngoc Restaurant, which will occupy two thirds of the first floor of DiRenzo’s new building. The restaurant will seat around 30 people and serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, while still offering take-out service. The remaining 300 square feet on the first floor will house a hair salon.

Full page advertisement: Just Desserts, 877 Main St., Westbrook, Grand Opening Saturday, Sept. 3 and Sunday, Sept. 4. Croissants, Assorted French Pastry, Muffins, Wedding Cakes, Danish Pastry and more! Saturday Special – Baked Beans from our own ovens.

The Westbrook School Committee has accepted Superintendent Edward Connolly’s nomination of Canal School teacher Robert Hall to be the school’s principal. He succeeds Spencer Hardy, who was named principal of Westbrook Junior High School. Hall has been a teacher in Westbrook for 22 years and for nine years was a teaching principal at Bridge Street School, Forrest Street School and Prides Corner School.

Ernie’s Restaurant on Main Street in Gorham will be under new ownership soon, and will reopen in October as the Gorham Connection. The new owners will be Bernard Dubendris and Donald Gilbert. Dubendris said the restaurant will close for about six weeks for renovations. The menu will be varied, and big-screen TVs will be installed in a sports lounge.

Despite their preliminary approval in July to ask again for voter approval of a $1.3 million expansion proposal at the Municipal Center, the current direction of the Gorham Town Council on the matter is far from certain. The question will be considered by the council at its Sept. 6 meeting.

Negotiators for the Gorham School Committee and the Gorham Teachers Association have called on the services of a state mediator in an effort to reach agreement on a new teacher contract. The present three-year contract expires Aug. 31 and the two sides have been negotiating since November.

Bob and Pat Mountain, School Street, Gorham, have returned from a three-week motor trip that took them through the Smoky Mountains, Nashville, Memphis, the Elvis Presley estate, the Poconos and to their destination in West Palm Beach, Fla., where they spent four days with Pat’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Tierney.

Michelle Pike, honor graduate of Gorham High School class of 1988 and daughter of Carl and Lois Pike, Libby Avenue, left for the University of New Hampshire in Durham. She enters her freshman year. She will celebrate her 18th birthday Sept. 4.

Sept. 2, 1998

With the state getting rough about Westbrook’s lack of a license for its Rocky Hill landfill on the Methodist Road, the City Council is getting ready to send all Westbrook big rubbish to Portland, where the dumper would pay a minimum of $5 a load. The council’s Finance Committee voted Monday for a package that would close Rocky Hill to haulers Sept. 12 and close it to others Oct. 3, and negotiate with Portland for Westbrook residents to use the Portland recycling station on Riverside Street.

After four hours of debate, Westbrook’s mayor and City Council decided against asking voters to elect the mayor, four council members and four School Committee members next year, and then the city clerk, three council member and three School Committee members in 2000, all for three-year terms, then skip and election and 2001 before resuming the three-year cycle in 2002. The changes approved for voters include changing alderman to councilor and school committeeman to school committee member; and would change $1,000 to $3,000 as the amount the city and school administration can spend without specific roll-call vote of either panel. The mayor and council set Sept. 13 for a public hearing on the changes.

Ten-year-old Joe Gagnon of Westbrook became a hero Monday when he waded into the Presumpscot River by the Dana Warp Mill to rescue a kitten that was caught in the current. He was walking over the Bridge Street bridge when he heard the kitten crying. Seeing that it was in trouble, he scampered down the riverbank and removed his T-shirt and sneakers. The kitten managed to climb onto a rock in the river and Gagnon grabbed a plank from the river’s edge and began a careful approach across the slippery rocks. After several minutes, Gagnon – up to his waist in water – reached the soaking wet kitten and made his way back to shore with it. The feline was taken to a nearby home, toweled off and is now waiting for a home.

The word in Westbrook is that the papermaking industry is in a slowdown. Sappi Westbrook laid off seven workers Monday and the paper machines and pulp mill shut down Sunday, to be idle until Sept. 8 because of slow paper orders. “The warehouses are full of paper,” an employee said. The company called this week’s production cutback a “temporary curtailment.”

The 5-acre Robie Park in Gorham was devastated in an Aug. 24 windstorm. Up to 70 trees were downed – uprooted, snapped or toppled. Town Manager David Cole said Monday that Gorham is still adding up the damage caused by the storm. He said that of town property, Robie Park was by far the most damaged. He said cleaning up the park “is one of our highest priorities.”

Ken and Alice Mains, South Street, Gorham, along with Ken’s brother Richard and sister-in-law Shirley Mains, and Allen and Edna Smith of Scarborough, left July 29 for a 14-day cruise to Alaska.

Warrant Officer Kevin Plowman, 160 County Road, Gorham, left at the end of July to serve for a year as second in command of the Coast Guard’s marine safety detachment at Unalaska, Alaska. Kevin said his buddies back home would be drooling if they saw the salmon he had caught.

50 Years Ago

The Westbrook American reported on Aug. 28, 1963, that Lewiston and Eva Day of Day Road in Gorham celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They were married Aug. 2, 1913.

Mr. and Mrs. George Garrison of Westbrook had moved into the Virgie Nason house on Towle Street in Bar Mills.

John Wheeler built his windmill in the 1870s in his wood and coal yard at Main and Haskell streets. A sign painted on the structure proclaimed it to be a Hercules Wind Motor, which Wheeler used to power the saws in his mill. After the windmill, this site was vacant for a time. A gasoline and service station was later built on the site and remained there for a while. When the gas station was torn down, the site remained a vacant lot until the Westbrook Public Safety Building was constructed. 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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