April 18, 1984

Alderman Henry Saunders proposed Monday that owners of abutting property pay two-thirds of the cost of any repairs to Westbrook streets. The City Council agreed to study the idea in a Committee of the Whole. Saunders backed off somewhat, however, when his proposal came under attack from Alderman Fred Westcott. Saunders said he intended it to apply only to “any major improvement, like an unpaved street being paved.” He said the idea grew out of “our discussion the other night and the importance of the city having a policy for roads that are

improvements.” The discussion apparently was at last week’s Public Safety Committee meeting on a proposed ban of big trucks on much of Main Street.

Westbrook police notes: A girl wouldn’t leave the high school at

4:40 p.m. Police took her to her father. A 19-year-old girl told

police at 6:30 p.m. that she had no place to stay. Ingraham Volunteers put her up for the night at the YWCA and told her to see city welfare in the morning. A transformer exploded at Bridge and Winslow streets at 7 p.m. The snow gate was left open in Saccarappa Falls Park. Public Works closed it. A roof leak set off an alarm at Canal School at 10:15 p.m. A man broke a window in The Hair Shop at 12:45 a.m. Police found him behind Mathieu’s and arrested him. He kicked a patrolman’s hand and while being taken to the county jail did extensive damage to the passenger-side door of the cruiser. Police put him in leg irons for

the rest of the trip.

The Gorham School Committee approved a trial of Saturday morning study halls as detention punishment for high school students. High school Principal Philip Blood said the program will start after April break and will run for eight Saturdays, then the

administration will decide whether they want to keep it up next year. “We have the space, and it wouldn’t cost a heck of a lot of money. It is a legitimate alternative,” Blood said.

The municipal officers of Gorham met April 3 as the trustees of

the newly-merged Huston-Waterman Trust Fund and voted to pay attorney Sidney Thaxter $750 from the fund. Thaxter represented the plaintiffs in a suit against the municipal officers charging that the funds were mismanaged.

April 20, 1994

Lionel Dumond is asking the City Council to rename Westbrook’s

Wayside Drive as William L. Clarke Drive. Clarke is “a man who has touched the lives of everyone in our city in an important and special way,” he wrote. “By erecting new street signs at intersections bearing the new name, his name will live on in our memories and in the memories of future generations.” Dumond, alderman from Ward I, asks that the council send the suggestion to its Highway Committee for discussion and that the committee and the council vote unanimously for the new name. Clarke, who served 38 years as Westbrook’s elected city clerk, retired in November after declining to seek another term.

Supt. Edward Connolly set a price of $35 a household Wednesday on keeping Step-Up and the Enrichment Center and found eager buyers. Among 27 citizens who went to the microphone in the Westbrook School Committee’s meeting, several said they’d be glad to pay that much more in taxes. The room, crowded with young parents and school employees, rocked with applause for each speaker. Step-Up is for slow starters; the Enrichment Center is for high-achievers. Several speakers have had children in both programs, some of them the same children. There was a lot of praise for both programs. Criticizing the Legislature for raising state school aid somewhat less than it was expected to raise, Connolly said, “I don’t have enough money to run the schools.”

The Gorham Firearms Use Study Committee is proposing that hunting be limited in Gorham village to shotguns only. Hunters would also be prohibited from hunting within 500 feet of a dwelling, 200 feet more than state law. The Town Council appointed the committee after councilors and police received several complaints from landowners about hunters.

Westbrook police notes: A Main Street woman reported four days

later that her “soon-to-be-ex-husband” kicked the door in and

assaulted a male visitor. Yellow Freight notified police that its

workers were on strike. A patrolman reported a peaceful demonstration. Someone was hurt in a fight at the Warren Pool.

At 30 Park Hill at 5:25 p.m., in the middle of the road, a car

driven by a woman ran into another car. It was a family fight.

Investigating, police identified a 27-year-old man who was wanted in Ventura, Calif. Ventura sent two men to get him, and he was returned there. One estimate of the cost of returning him: $3,500.