Oct. 3, 1990

Lunt Drive repairs costing up to $6,000 squeaked through the Westbrook City Council again Monday, but it wasn’t a final vote because aldermen tacked on an amendment declaring that they’re not taking permanent responsibility for the unaccepted street. Lunt Drive is 1,000 feet long and serves 20 lots of Brook Street, half of which already have been developed with nice homes paying “up to $3,600” a year in taxes. City Engineering Director Donald Mannett warned the council again Monday that one rainstorm could undo the $6,000 repair job that’s intended to get the street through the winter. About 300 feet of the street is in bad shape. The council’s final action is due Oct. 15.

Three dozen, 3-inch thick documents on the proposed demolition and recycling center near Mosher’s Corner have been deposited in heavy boxes to the Gorham town planner’s office by Regional Waste Systems, and one thing is certain – traffic is going to increase on Route 25. The dump will be on the receiving end of an average of 430 round trips a day by trucks delivering an average of six cubic yards of materials per trip, according to the application. The majority of the waste will be generated in Portland, South Portland, Westbrook, Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth. The facility is designed to process, store, recycle, dispose of or market 457,000 cubic yards of debris a year.

The S.D. Warren Mill employs around 2,200 persons, including 199 that work at the Research Laboratory, according to Kim Millick, community relations and communications manager at the mill.

Saccarappa School’s new playground will be erected through people power in one day, from 7 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 13. A supervisor from Children’s Playgrounds Inc. will head up the project. Around 60 people will be needed to work and bring tools throughout the day.

Advertisement: New Residential Trash Collection for Gorham Residents! $12.67 per month. Waste Management of Maine is offering residential trash collection to Gorham residents beginning Oct. 1. This new service includes the free use of a 90-gallon toter on wheels!

Walter Spencer was installed Sept. 21 as master of the White Rock Grange. The Grange meets at 8 p.m. the first and third Fridays of the month in the hall on Wilson Road in Gorham.

Oct. 4, 2000

Band Director George Bookataub believes this year’s Westbrook High School Marching Band is even more talented than the 1999 edition that took home the state championship and top Division A honors at the Citrus Spots Festival in Orlando last December. If you’d like to see for yourself, you can do so Oct. 7, when Westbrook High School and the marching Blue Blazes host a New England Scholastic Band Association competition. Six of New England’s finest high school bands will complete, two from Maine (Old Orchard Beach and Westbrook) and four from Massachusetts. Each band will perform a 10-minute field show.

Westbrook’s City Council is scheduled to vote Oct. 22 on whether to formally adopt the Riverfront Master Plan prepared by Orcutt Associates, Yarmouth. It will also vote on advertising for a firm to design and footbridge crossing the Presumpscot River from High Street to Riverbank Park, a boardwalk along the park’s riverfront and a boardwalk along the river from Ash Street to the Bridge Street bridge and from the bridge to Saccarappa Island.

A 58-acre parcel on Weeks Road will be the home of Gorham’s new middle school if things go smoothly in a deal worked out by the Gorham School Department. Landowner John Phinney has signed an option for $20,000 with the school department for the purchase of the property, located across the road from about 50 acres already owned by the town. The school department has agreed to a purchase price of $595,000 plus the value of the timber removed from the site. The price is 15 percent higher than the appraised price, but, according to school Superintendent Michael Moore, the site has “unique value as a school site that exceeds its value to a developer.” Moore wants to schedule neighborhood meetings soon to show the plans, hear their concerns and review the project’s time line.

Katie Benson has the law of physics working against her when the 130-pound, 15-year-old attempts to pull her 1,000-pound prize Holstein heifer Sabrina back into her stall at the Kay-Ben Dairy Farm in Gorham. “Sabrina can be stubborn,” she says. But Katie’s determination and savvy handling Sabrina has paid off. The heifer was Junior Champion for the second year in a row at the Big E, the Eastern States Exposition, in Springfield, Mass.

A family tale of forgiveness is the theme of “Liberty, Maine,” a moderate-budget film in its second week of shooting on County Road in Gorham. Director/screenwriter is Josiah Emery, who has Maine family roots. Eric Close, from the cable weekly drama, “Now and Again,” stars as the son. Laurel Holloman, whose credits include the independent movies “Myth of Fingerprints” and “Tumbleweeds,” plays the fiance?. The filmmakers will move to several other locations in and around Buxton for the third and final week of shooting.

Oct. 3, 1990Lunt Drive repairs costing up to $6,000 squeaked through the Westbrook City Council again Monday, but it wasn’t a final vote because aldermen tacked on an amendment declaring that they’re not taking permanent responsibility for the unaccepted street. Lunt Drive is 1,000 feet long and serves 20 lots of Brook Street, half of which already have been developed with nice homes paying “up to $3,600” a year in taxes. City Engineering Director Donald Mannett warned the council again Monday that one rainstorm could undo the $6,000 repair job that’s intended to get the street through the winter. About 300 feet of the street is in bad shape. The council’s final action is due Oct. 15.Three dozen, 3-inch thick documents on the proposed demolition and recycling center near Mosher’s Corner have been deposited in heavy boxes to the Gorham town planner’s office by Regional Waste Systems, and one thing is certain – traffic is going to increase on Route 25. The dump will be on the receiving end of an average of 430 round trips a day by trucks delivering an average of six cubic yards of materials per trip, according to the application. The majority of the waste will be generated in Portland, South Portland, Westbrook, Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth. The facility is designed to process, store, recycle, dispose of or market 457,000 cubic yards of debris a year. The S.D. Warren Mill employs around 2,200 persons, including 199 that work at the Research Laboratory, according to Kim Millick, community relations and communications manager at the mill. Saccarappa School’s new playground will be erected through people power in one day, from 7 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 13. A supervisor from Children’s Playgrounds Inc. will head up the project. Around 60 people will be needed to work and bring tools throughout the day.Advertisement: New Residential Trash Collection for Gorham Residents! $12.67 per month. Waste Management of Maine is offering residential trash collection to Gorham residents beginning Oct. 1. This new service includes the free use of a 90-gallon toter on wheels!Walter Spencer was installed Sept. 21 as master of the White Rock Grange. The Grange meets at 8 p.m. the first and third Fridays of the month in the hall on Wilson Road in Gorham.Oct. 4, 2000Band Director George Bookataub believes this year’s Westbrook High School Marching Band is even more talented than the 1999 edition that took home the state championship and top Division A honors at the Citrus Spots Festival in Orlando last December. If you’d like to see for yourself, you can do so Oct. 7, when Westbrook High School and the marching Blue Blazes host a New England Scholastic Band Association competition. Six of New England’s finest high school bands will complete, two from Maine (Old Orchard Beach and Westbrook) and four from Massachusetts. Each band will perform a 10-minute field show.Westbrook’s City Council is scheduled to vote Oct. 22 on whether to formally adopt the Riverfront Master Plan prepared by Orcutt Associates, Yarmouth. It will also vote on advertising for a firm to design and footbridge crossing the Presumpscot River from High Street to Riverbank Park, a boardwalk along the park’s riverfront and a boardwalk along the river from Ash Street to the Bridge Street bridge and from the bridge to Saccarappa Island. A 58-acre parcel on Weeks Road will be the home of Gorham’s new middle school if things go smoothly in a deal worked out by the Gorham School Department. Landowner John Phinney has signed an option for $20,000 with the school department for the purchase of the property, located across the road from about 50 acres already owned by the town. The school department has agreed to a purchase price of $595,000 plus the value of the timber removed from the site. The price is 15 percent higher than the appraised price, but, according to school Superintendent Michael Moore, the site has “unique value as a school site that exceeds its value to a developer.” Moore wants to schedule neighborhood meetings soon to show the plans, hear their concerns and review the project’s time line.Katie Benson has the law of physics working against her when the 130-pound, 15-year-old attempts to pull her 1,000-pound prize Holstein heifer Sabrina back into her stall at the Kay-Ben Dairy Farm in Gorham. “Sabrina can be stubborn,” she says. But Katie’s determination and savvy handling Sabrina has paid off. The heifer was Junior Champion for the second year in a row at the Big E, the Eastern States Exposition, in Springfield, Mass. A family tale of forgiveness is the theme of “Liberty, Maine,” a moderate-budget film in its second week of shooting on County Road in Gorham. Director/screenwriter is Josiah Emery, who has Maine family roots. Eric Close, from the cable weekly drama, “Now and Again,” stars as the son. Laurel Holloman, whose credits include the independent movies “Myth of Fingerprints” and “Tumbleweeds,” plays the fiance?. The filmmakers will move to several other locations in and around Buxton for the third and final week of shooting.

This photo from 1976 shows the demolition of a portion of the old Westbrook High School to make room for a new U.S. Post Office to replace the Brackett Street facility. The original portion of the high school was built in 1886. The demolished section was built in 1913 to add nine classrooms. In 1936 another addition of eight classrooms and a gym-auditorium was added, with an entrance on Foster Street. The remaining portion of the school now serves as Presumpscot Commons senior housing. 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 research courtesy of Mike Sanphy

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