June 1981

Frank Jordan is the only boy and the youngest of eight children of Mrs. Shirley Whittemore, 317 Brown St., Westbrook, and Frank Jordan, Ocala, Fla. All were together Sunday for his graduation from Westbrook High School.

Gypsy moth caterpillars have been eating foliage heavily in many Maine towns, including Windham. The infestation has about two weeks to run, says the Maine Forest Service.

The federal government is cutting back its funding of the Council of Governments. COG is reducing most employees’ hours to 32. Concerned that Mark Eyerman, COG-employed planning consultant, may quit, Gorham wants Westbrook to join it in hiring him as planning director.

The Westbrook Rescue Unit will demonstrate its “Jaws of Life” tool for freeing people from automobile wrecks. The demonstration will be part of the Westbrook Together Days program Saturday.

The Westbrook Lions Club is offering a prize to the first boy or girl, age 10 or younger, to climb the greased pole at Westbrook Together Days. Wear old clothes.

There’s a wrinkle in the asphalt paving behind the Sherwin-Williams paint store in downtown Westbrook. A woman carrying a gallon of green paint tripped on it and fell, spilling the paint. She wound up sitting in the paint. Bill McKone, store manager, gave her a replacement gallon of paint. A man gave her his car blanket, which she wrapped around her so that she could drive home, believed to be in Hamlet Coach Park.

The Copper Hearth Restaurant in downtown Westbrook closed last week.

Kathryn Gunter and James A. Gagnon are engaged to marry. Both are in the U. S. Navy. Parents are Mrs. Doris Gunter, Santa Ana, Calif., Marvin Gunter, Costa Mesa, Calif. and Mr. and Mrs. Thomas E. Gagnon, Scarborough.

Higher fees will go into effect July 1 at Gorham’s stump dump.

“A Day for a Nuclear-Free Maine” will be held in Augusta Saturday, beginning a campaign for a second referendum on banning nuclear power.

Speaking at Gorham High School’s graduation, Gov. Joseph Brennan told graduates to welcome change and not be afraid to take risks.

Nancy Hart and John Flaherty have leading roles in the Windham High School production of “Carousel.”

Claudia Storey, Settlers Road, Westbrook, is new manager of LaVerdiere’s pharmacy in Scarborough.

Westbrook’s City Council voted to raise taxicab mileage rates 166 percent as the price for getting cab owner Matty DiRenzo to honor a city ordinance forbidding flat rate fares.

Jim and Debby Kramlich have been operating the Westbrook Christian Nursery School, 270 Central St., for three years. Now they are launching the Westbrook Christian Day Care Center.

North Scarboro Grange has given its 1981 community Citizen Award to Eldred Harmon, a founder and past chief of the Scarborough Fire Department who also is active in the Knights of Pythias, Lions Club and First Congregational Church.

June 1991

The Portland Water District plans to spend $1.1 million to extend its pipes to St. Joseph’s College and Frye Island, which now draw water directly from Sebago Lake. Federal law now requires filtering of drinking water.

The City Council adopted a four-month ban on massage parlors in Westbrook while it works on an ordinance to regulate them.

Dennis Rand of Windham High School is Maine’s 1991 Presidential Scholar boy. He’ll receive the honor from President Bush and U. S. Education Secretary Lamar Alexander next week in Washington. Washington picked him based on his SAT scores and what they learned about him. Rand is the son of Steven and Anna Rand, Saco Road, Standish. Asked to name the person who had done the most to help him, he chose Mrs. Estelle Sanders, chairman of Windham High’s English department; she’ll be honored in Washington too.

Someone discarded in woods off Harmon’s Beach Road, Standish, a three-foot-long “championship” togue. The woman who found it and called the American Journal said, “I’ve spent my whole life on this lake (Sebago) and I’ve never seen a fish that big. It’s a miserable thing to do, not to give it to someone, or let it go.”

Windham leaders plan to organize funding for a speculative industrial building on the River Road.

Chemicals stored in seven five-gallon metal cans ignited spontaneously Monday at Gorham International, Rte. 237. Firefighters wore Class A chemical suits. The chemicals haven’t been named. Thirty people were evacuated. No injuries were reported.

Aldermen still are considering whether to merge Westbrook’s Parks and Cemeteries Department with its Recreation Department.

Philip Hansen, former Westbrook police chief, died Sunday. He joined the police department in 1943 and was chief 1979-1983. He was awarded a national citation for bravery in 1959.

Weyerhaeuser Paper Co. gave its Westbrook workers their choice of a lobster or steak dinner in recognition of a year without injury lost time.

Westbrook will spend $104,000 for smaller windows at Pride’s Corner School.