Jan. 15, 1992

New Alderman Lionel Dumond is proposing a change in the city charter that would curb the power of Westbrook school superintendents to spend money. The change would bring the school department under a spending control system that applies to all other departments. It would require two yes votes by the school committee for every expenditure of more than $1,000. In other departments, two yes votes are required under the charter. The school committee now votes on expenditures once a year when it adopts a budget. Dumond asked that his proposal be sent to a City Council committee for study. He’d like to see it on the ballot in November.

The town of Gorham has been eliminated from consideration for a state grant that would help finance the repair of its failing Little Falls sewer system, a job that will cost $363,500. Gorham will now have to weigh whether to absorb the cost of the work on its own, explore other options for funding the project or again seek state funds at the end of this year

Gorham, meanwhile, is hundreds of thousands of dollars short of anticipated revenues, including $60,000 cut from state revenue sharing; $197,000 cut from state aid to education; $200,000 short of anticipated local property tax revenues; $269,000 short as a result of damage wrought by Hurricane Bob last August.

Six activists from ACT UP were removed by police from the grounds of Westbrook High School last week after they distributed around 300 condoms and leaflets to students getting on the buses after school. Principal William Michaud called police as soon as he realized the group had come on to the school grounds in its latest round of “condom crusades” to area schools that began last fall.

Elwood “Bud” and Bessie Haskell, 32 State St., Westbrook, had as guests on Christmas Day their daughter Tracey Haskell; their son and family, Timothy and Susan Haskell and Jacob (his first Christmas); and Bessie’s mother, Mrs. Sadie Beesley. All are Westbrook residents.

Minnie Adams of Gorham will ride in limousine luxury to her 100th birthday party Jan. 18 at Micheal’s Banquet Center. There she will be greeted by around 120 friends and family, who will be there to honor this most remarkable lady. Minnie was born Jan. 21, 1892, in an area of Cape Elizabeth now part of South Portland. In 1914 she married Fred Adams, a chef and baker at Portland’s City Hospital. They lived across from the hospital on Brighton Avenue. She spent most of her life attending to her 10 children and home. At age 72, she first worked outside her home taking care of an ill baby to gain quarters toward her Social Security. She has 25 grandchildren, 38 great-grandchildren and 14 great-great grandchildren.

Classified ad: For rent, Westbrook, 2 bedroom garden apartment, heat and hot water included. $500 a month.

Jan. 16, 2002

Photo caption: Gorham High School senior Aaron Chadbourne shook hands with President George Bush Jan. 9 at the University of New Hampshire and has this picture taken for his future office wall. Chadbourne, who worked on the Bush election campaign, got a White House invitation to hear the president speak and to attend a reception with about 200 others. Chadbourne, a student representative to the Gorham School Committee, has been accepted at Harvard College. His sister Kyra is a Yale sophomore classmate of the president’s daughter Barbara. Their parents are Dennis and Demetria Chadbourne, 83 County Road, Gorham.

Westbrook’s two police dogs proved recently that they are well worth their dog chow. Zina, run by handler Phil Hebert, is trained to recognize the smell of marijuana. Last week, she picked one suspicious box out of an array of 15 others, “alerting” on it. Opening the box, police found she was right. The 15 pounds of pot was wrapped up along with strongly perfumed clothes-dryer sheets in cellophane packages. They were wrapped in a plastic trash bag and then that was inside a Rubbermaid tote container, sealed with caulking and duct tape. There’s more: The tote was packed inside a cardboard box with cardboard around it and packing peanuts, too. Police arrested the man the package was sent to. The department’s other dog, Buddy, handled by Patrolman Steve Crocker, was called recently to help track an offender on the County Road. Buddy has been on the force only since April. Zina has seven years in.

Christopher M. Mailhot and Shannon Mailhot, son and daughter of Marc and Kathleen Mailhot, Westbrook Gardens, each has won honors at college. Christopher, a senior at the University of Maine, has been inducted into the Phi Alpha Theta history honor society. Shannon, a junior at the University of Maine at Farmington, has been named to the All-Conference first team of the Maine Athletic Conference in soccer and to the All-Region second team. Christopher graduated from Westbrook High School in 1998, and Shannon in 1999.

On Feb. 12, Lincoln’s birthday, there will be a “Spirit of America” benefit concert in the Westbrook High School auditorium, jointly featuring the Fanfare Band and the Westbrook City Band. All proceeds will benefit the New York Police and Fire Departments’ Widows and Orphans Sept. 11 Disaster Relief Fund.

This photo, taken around 1900, shows John Clark standing in front of his store on Bridgton Road at Brook Street. Charles Gallison built the store in the early 1870s. Clark started working for Gallison in 1876 and purchased the store from him in 1890. He became the area postmaster and in 1899 built an addition to the store to serve as the post office. Clark retired in 1905 and the store was torn down. Clark and his family lived behind the store in a house that later became an apartment building. That building was recently demolished. To see more historical photos and artifacts, visit the Westbrook Historical Society at the Fred C. Wescott Building, 426 Bridge St. It is open Tuesdays and Saturdays, 9 a.m.-noon, and the first Wednesday of each month at 1:30 p.m., September-June. Inquiries can be emailed to [email protected]. The website is www.westbrookhistoricalsociety.org.