April 1, 1992

A citizens committee says Westbrook schools should have longer days, longer years and can save money on sports, activities and school buses. It calls for closing the Forest Street School. What the Westbrook School Committee will do about the recommendations remains to be seen. The panel, appointed by Superintendent Edward Connolly, has held a dozen meetings since November.

Once in a while, a real hero comes along. Mike Whitzell, 21, of Brown Street, Westbrook, is one. His horn-honking as he followed an alleged drunk driver on Main Street gave pedestrian Martha Morrill the split-second reaction time she needed to avoid being struck and killed. His anger gave him the will to chase the driver, block his path and hold him there until police arrived. The driver, a 28-year-old Westbrook man, was arrested and charged with OUI. “In this day and age, when someone goes that far for somebody else, it’s unusual,” said Westbrook Police Capt. Paul McCarthy.

Richard Willoughby has been getting out of the hospital weekends, visiting Westbrook in a wheelchair van with a lift that was found for him by the Mountain Men Motorcycle Club. Willoughby, proprietor of The Bus Stop, has been hospitalized since a customer stabbed him in the neck while Willoughby was escorting him from the premises Jan. 31. His brother Chuck reports that Richard is learning to walk using crutches, and that family and friends are now getting his house ready with ramps, handicap bathrooms and a lift to the second floor. He will be out of the hospital and home in three weeks or so, Chuck predicts.

Moving Westbrook City Council meetings to Westbrook High School to make them accessible to the handicapped is being talked about by the council and School Committee. A major problem is how two active groups, the council and School Committee, could share a single meeting place. Also to be considered is the Planning Board, which meets in the City Council chamber, located in the basement of City Hall and reachable only down stairways. “We can’t keep on with that,” said Ward 1 Alderman Lionel Dumond. “It’s just too demeaning for someone to have to be carried to a meeting.”

The Gorham Lions Club elected Russell Hall as president for 1992-93 at its March 24 meeting. Hall will preside over a Lions Club of about 35 members.

Richard and Melissa Costello, Osborne Road, Gorham, are back from seven weeks in Florida. From a base in St. Cloud, near Orlando, they took in all the sights. Being retired from many years of teaching and coaching at the University of Southern Maine, they enjoyed the annual Florida-USM Alumni reunion, at which USM President Dr. Richard Patenaude spoke.

Carol and Arthur Quint, Stroudwater Place, Westbrook, recently returned from a four-week trip to Port St. Lucie, Florida. They traveled 4,500 miles in their motor home and visited their son, David Quint, whom they hadn’t seen in two years.

April 3, 2002

Olympia Sports has bought the old J.E. Goold-Bindley Western distribution facility at 5 Bradley Drive in Westbrook and will move its own distribution and executive offices there starting in June. The warehouse, coming from Scarborough, will bring 50 jobs. The offices, coming from Yarmouth, will bring 70, according to Paul Fitzpatrick, Olympia’s operations manager. Fitzpatrick said Olympia, owned by Ed Manganello of Falmouth, bought the building in early February.

Westbrook police hope soon to arrest two boys, ages 14-16, who followed Ann Wilkins from near CVS pharmacy up Central Street Friday afternoon, where they flung her to the ground while trying to steal her purse. Failing to get the purse, the boys, wearing hooded sweatshirts, then fled over Cross and up Bracket Street. Wilkins suffered a broken right arm and dislocated her left shoulder. The boys were caught on video cameras that scan the yard of Sportsman’s Hardware. Wilkins said she cussed at the boys as they wrestled with her, and told them, “You ain’t getting my pocketbook.”

Head lice are affecting the Westbrook school budget. Canal School is installing lockers in its effort to control head lice. Without lockers, Principal Robert Welch told the School Committee, students put their coats over the back of their chairs, and the “shared space” is no bar to the spread of the lice.

Gorham issued 48 permits for new homes through March 31. If that rate continues, 16 permits a month, Gorham would issue a whopping 192 permits this year. In a very busy 2001, Gorham issued 144 permits for single-family units. The Portland Water District considers Gorham its busiest community for waterline extensions.

Cheryl Poulopoulos, Gorham, is the new director of the Salvation Army’s Pavilion auditorium in Old Orchard Beach, known for its annual camp meeting and community events. She has been program specialist for the Salvation Army’s New England Division in Portland.

State Sen. Bill O’Gara and wife Beverly, of Westbrook, had the family over for a good old, typical St. Paddy’s Day dinner. Joining them were son Michael, Juniper Lane; daughter Beth and her finance, Dan Sullivan, Saco; and two grandsons, Alex, a senior, and Tanner, a freshman, at Thornton Academy. Also enjoying the meal was longtime family friend Betty Humphries, Larrabee Village.

The Salvation Army operated out of the building at 10 Fitch St. for many years. This undated photo shows some of the members, staff and children standing in front of the building. The Salvation Army closed this location and for a brief time the building was occupied by a Counseling Service for Teenagers. In 1975 the building was demolished by Urban Renewal.The site of the old building is now a section of the parking lot behind the Family Dollar Store. The Salvation Army operated out of 11 Bridge St. in later years, until it closed the Westbrook facility and moved to Portland. 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