May 24, 1989

Wayne Selleck, Westbrook, remains hospitalized in serious condition after he was pinned against a steel workbench by a van at Chet’s Auto Parts in Gorham May 15. John Durrah, South Windham, the driver of the van, was being directed by Selleck onto the lift for repairs at around 8 a.m. when he accidentally hit the gas instead of the brake, said Gorham Patrolman John Reed. Durrah, 64, was not charged. It was “simple human error,” Reed said. Selleck was conscious and able to talk when Reed arrived at the garage and wrapped him in a blanket.

Jeffrey Morin is the valedictorian, Brett Tounge is salutatorian and Thomas Trecartin is the honor essayist for Westbrook High School’s class of 1989. The other top students academically are, in order of standing, Kelly McCullough, Geoffrey Parks, Michael Mahoney, James Law, Dennis Wight, Todd Adams, Timothy Concannon, Michelle Roy and Elizabeth Andersen.

The Westbrook School Committee has voted $7,400 to send nine students to a national conference in Tulsa, Okla., on June 26-July 7. Four chaperones will also go. They will attend the national conference of the Vocational-Industrial Clubs of America, representing the Westbrook chapter.

Advertisement: Kentucky Fried Chicken, Westbrook, is proud to announce the Employee of the Month for April. We appreciate the hard work and extra effort that Carol Fecteau put in. Employees like this are what make Kentucky Fried Chicken such as success.

Gorham town councilors put away their paring knives for another year Thursday after they finished making cuts that brought next year’s budget down to a $6.9 million local appropriation, and an 8 percent tax increase that should add less than $2 to the mil rate. A public hearing and final action are scheduled for June 15. The council also agreed to accept the school budget with $30,353 in cuts from a proposed $9.47 million budget.

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Krista Butterfield, daughter of Phillip and Suzanne Butterfield, Day Road in Gorham, has made the sports record books at Brown University. A senior guard and co-captain of the women’s basketball team, she finished her college career as the fifth leading scorer, with 1,204 career points. An English major, she led the Bears this season averaging 13.1points and 5 rebounds per game.

May 26, 1999

Gorham town officials have mapped out a new road extending Route 237 to New Portland Road that would run through the center of the Beal’s Ice Cream property at Mosher’s Corner. Meeting as an economic development subcommittee in the town manager’s office Monday, four town councilors agreed to seek estimates on an appraisal of the Beal’s land and another property the new road would cross. Amid rumors that a large shopping center would be built in the area, the full council recently passed a resolution signaling its desire to have future access into the rear of the Gorham Industrial Park from Mosher’s Corner. The new road would connect routes 237 and 25 with the end of Hutcherson Drive in the Industrial Park and then continue across Central Maine Power land to connect with New Portland Road.

Gorham voters, in a special election last week, rejected a charter change and an $800,000 water main extension project for Black Brook Road. The charter change, defeated 629-406, would have allowed town councilors to spend an unlimited amount of taxpayer dollars as long as they avoid borrowing.

Gorham Recreation Director Cindy Hazelton was named Business Person of the Year Wednesday by the Gorham Business and Civic Exchange. “I was floored,” said Hazelton. In presenting the award, James Lockman, Gorham Business and Civic Exchange president, said, “No one exemplifies community involvement more than Cindy.”

Westbrook’s Memorial Day parade will start at 10 a.m. Monday from the corner of Longfellow Street and New Gorham Road. It will then turn onto Main Street and proceed east to Riverbank Park. The grand marshal will be Larry Chretien. In Gorham, the parade begins at 9 a.m. in front of Robie Gym, South Street. It will turn down Main Street, continuing until reaching Eastern Cemetery, where prayers and a poem will be said. It will then return up Main Street and head to Phinney Park, where a wreath will be placed on the veterans memorial.

Edwin and Marilyn Lee, Brook Street, Westbrook, are home after three rainless months in Vero Beach, Fla. Only 10 miles away, 42 homes were lost in brush fires. Ed and Marilyn enjoyed watching Dodgers play baseball during spring training. Also back in the city is Mary L. Poitras, Lamb Street, who spend two weeks in Ohio visiting her longtime friend Annette Wendling. They met when very young girls living on Stroudwater Street.

What will be the 20th Westbrook Together Days is coming June 4 and 5. The festival will start with a Band Boosters benefit bean supper that Friday night in the Dunn Street Legion Hall. The next day, a parade down Main Street at 10 a.m. will lead to Riverbank Park, where they’ll be food, booths, a petting zoo and entertainment areas.

The American Journal acknowledges the help of Julie Peterson, curator of the local history room of Walker Memorial Library, and Donna Conley of the Westbrook Historical Society, for their assistance in gathering historical information for this week’s special Westbrook Bicentennial section. Their names were inadvertently omitted.


FIFTY YEARS AGO

The Westbrook American reported on May 20, 1964, that Ernest Smith was elected president of the Hillside Cemetery Association in Gorham.

Doreen Bartlett of West Buxton was in Massachusetts on business during the past week.


Fun facts about Westbrook

Fun facts about Westbrook

Fun facts about Westbrook


Fun Facts about Westbrook

On June 9, Westbrook will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the year it separated from Falmouth and became its own town. Each week leading up to the celebration, the American Journal will publish some Westbrook trivia.

• On the seal of the city is a symbol of the ship on which Col. Westbrook sailed from New Hampshire to Maine. The seal shows the dates when Westbrook became a town and when it became a city. It also shows an armored (metal) boot, which is said to have been copied from the Westbrook family crest in England.

• Route 302, often referred to as Roosevelt Trail, was known as the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway until 1935. It was part of a transcontinental North American highway through the United States and Canada that ran from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon. Its length was about 4,060 miles.


Built in 1926, this building still stands next to the former Warren Furniture Company, which is now Portland Pie Co. When this photo was taken in 1970, Larry Simensky was the proprietor of Larry’s Jewelry Store at 873 Main St. Jacob Berson owned and operated Berson’s Women’s Clothing Store at 875 Main St., and Leo Sabourin was the owner of Busy Bee Bakery at 877 Main St. These shops are long gone. To see more historical photos and artifacts, visit the Westbrook Historical Society at the Fred C. Wescott Building, 426 Bridge St. Inquiries can be emailed to westhistorical@myfairpoint.net. The website is www.westbrookhistoricalsociety.org. 


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