April 20, 1994

Alderman Lionel Dumond is asking the City Council to rename Westbrook’s Wayside Drive as William L. Clarke Drive. Clarke, who retired last November after 38 years at city clerk, is “a man who has touched the lives of everyone in our city in an important and special way,” Dumond wrote. Clarke remains a patient at Mercy Hospital, which he entered April 9.

A preliminary report from a study performed last summer of the Presumpscot River can be summed up best in two words – hands off! “No remaining assimilative capacity is available in the upper Presumpscot,” said the report, made by the Department of Environmental Protection. It could be the final straw in plans to use the river as the site of a wastewater treatment facility in Windham.

Seven Gorham High School students are headed to Ames, Iowa, in June to compete in the Odyssey of the Mind World Championships. They hope to raise $5,500 in the next few weeks to pay for the trip. The Gorham team consists entirely of sophomore boys: Bret Dedanka, Nick Matthews, Chris Moody, Josh Heckman, Dan Knott, Kevin Downing and Justin Miller. They are coached by Bruce Webb. The team won the Southern Maine Regional Championship in March and progressed to the state finals, finishing first in the high school division. That victory guaranteed them a trip to Iowa for the world championships, a first for a Gorham team.

Darryl Wright, son of Terry and Linda Wright of Gorham, bowled 706 at Yankee Lanes, believed to be the first Portland-area youth to go past 700. His scores were 224, 247 and 235. He also had the Portland Youth Bowling Association high average, 196, and high game, 256. He is a high school senior.

April 21, 2004

Gorham High School’s Elissa Gervais followed up a stellar indoor track season with a great start to the spring, finishing as the top girl in Monday’s Westbrook-Gorham Rotary Patriots Day Road Race. She finished 20th overall on the 2.25-mile course in 12.41. “I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I felt strong. It was a good race,” she said. Casey Diehl of Greely High School was the overall winner, finishing in 11 minutes.

Mayor Bruce Chuluda has proposed a city budget with department consolidations, layoffs, a pay-per-bag trash program and a 2.9 percent tax increase. Last week, the city announced it was combining the public works and parks departments and the field maintenance portion of the recreation department into a new Public Services department. The city also combined all municipal building maintenance and custodial services into a single operation to be managed by the school department’s director of maintenance. Two city employees were laid off and three jobs were eliminated. Chuluda will give a public presentation of the budget at a City Council Finance Committee meeting April 26.

At a meeting last week, parents and students told the Gorham School Committee that a proposed elimination of teaching positions at the Village School could cause class sizes to rise above what they believe to be acceptable levels. “We are trying to keep class size under 25, and I think parents are concerned that there is potential for more than 25,” said Marie South, who chairs the committee. She said the concern led the committee to ask Superintendent Michael Moore to add one teacher to the Village School staff in the budget proposal.

Mission Possible Teen Center has moved into a new home at 755 Main St., Westbrook.