Jan. 19, 1983

Mayor William B. O’Gara plans to launch eight two-man teams for downtown Westbrook invigoration. He called together his special downtown advisory group for the early morning session and asked each of its eight members to bring someone else who will work with him or her. The idea of two-person teams to help get downtown Westbrook moving grows out of a general meeting the mayor held in the Exit 8 Holiday Inn. Eighty persons turned out, a larger number than the mayor

expected, to answer his letters of invitation, which went to many Westbrook officials, businessmen and others. O’Gara said a strong showing of support is needed if Westbrook is to have a chance of winning a grant of up to $400,000 for one year and up to $800,000 for two years from the state administered Community Development Program.

Westbrook police notes: A cat was caught in the engine fan of a car in Colonial Acres. It ran off when freed. An Old Orchard Beach youth kept coming east on Cumberland Street in the rotary, meeting a police cruiser head-on in the one-way section. It was just “a bumper tick.” He was summoned for a traffic violation. A goose was loose behind Yudy’s in traffic at 5 p.m. A drunken 16-year-old youth was picked up at 1:45 a.m. at 366 Main St., after he refused leave an apartment. He was returned to the Maine Youth Center, from which he was on leave. In the arrest, he gave karate kicks to three policemen-Patrolmen Merrill, right leg; Sgt. McCarthy, small of back; Patrolman Amoroso, left hand. Deputy Chief Sypheres’ right hand was caught in a car door. The injuries were minor.

Richard A. Sullivan, 34, of Portland, started work Monday as the city’s staff attorney. Mayor William B. O’Gara appointed

him. Sullivan will be paid $15,000 a year. The job title is a new one, taking the place on the city’s roster of assistant city solicitor job, from which Stephen Filler resigned in September.

Philip Butterfield’s proposal to operated a small engine sales and repair business in the former Ricker-Cloutier building at Spring Street and County Road, Westbrook, got the green light from the Westbrook Planning Board on Jan. 11.

Westbrook alderman Donald E. Esty Jr. is wearing his left arm in a sling after a basketball accident. He was blocking a shot in the Westbrook Recreation Center Jan. 9 for his team, the Greedys, when an arm happened to hit him in the Adam’s apple, knocking him to the floor. His arm ached and later swelled; it was midnight before an X-ray in the Maine Medical Center revealed a cracked radial bone. His heavily bandaged arm will be out of action a month. “And of course,

I’m left-handed,” he said.

Jan. 20, 1993

Francis Rocheleau has sold the building at 825 Main St., to

Laura Goodrich, Freeport, and it will become the home to at least two businesses new to Westbrook. Mrs. Goodrich’s husband, Steven, will move his credit-card processing business, First Merchants Bancard Services, to the second floor space, from 477 Congress St., Portland. And United Copy Service, now in the Little Falls section of Gorham, has rented

the right-hand storefront. First Merchants has an office staff of

about 10, Steven Goodrich said, and he expects they will move in Feb. 1, once work on the space is completed.

The Gorham Town Council lvoted 5-2 to indefinitely

postpone accepting its own 1993 goals that are meant to improve some functions in town. Chairman Calvin Hamblen and Councilors Janice Labrecque, William Wise, Albert E. Mosher Jr. and Thad Moody shied away from accepting the 14 goals as an order since they were binding and required implementation this year. In offering that opinion, Town Attorney William Dale said there was room for adjustments. “Technically, anything that is passed as an order is a command and the council is obligated to follow through on it,” he said. “However, given the very nature of this prioritization, it’s a list of goals and items you’re going to work on. It seems a

little bit hard to say that it’s going to be fixed in stone and not

subject to some flexibility by the council during the course of the year.”

Merriman’s Inc., flooring retailer, has moved from Bracket Street and Wayside Drive, Westbrook, to 621 Main St., Gorham, former location of Gorham Furniture and recently, the offices of Thompson Machine. Richard A. Merriman II is president and Richard A. Merriman, vice president of the four-year-old company, which sells and installs a full line of flooring materials. A division, Chem-dry of Maine, offers carpet cleaning services.