May 13, 1992

What do Gorham’s Bartlett, Ward’s Hill, North Gorham, Longview and Dingley Spring roads have in common? Each is included on a list that Town Engineer Bill Taylor produces when the topic of road maintenance comes up. “In some sections, the road’s just gone,” said Taylor of North Gorham Road. “There’s no sense playing with it. Dingley Spring and Longview, I’d overlay both of those. We couldn’t finish the job we started in 1990, so I’d go back,” he said. The job wasn’t finished due to a lack of money, a problem that has plagued Gorham’s road maintenance program for the past three years.

The new $1.6 million belt filter press that was installed at the Westbrook Treatment Plant is doing a great job at squeezing out more water from sludge, producing a dryer, more compact bio-solid product. There’s just one problem – the process smells. So far, the odors have been contained to the interior of the building, operated by the Portland Water District. But the district trustees have voted to authorize a study at the plant to look for ways to mitigate the odors produced by the new technology.

Latin, according to Leland Arris, who teaches it at Westbrook High School, is “very useful for virtually every type of kid.” When he started teaching it at Westbrook six years ago, there were around 45 students of Latin at all levels. Now there are over 100. “I try to make it more inclusive instead of exclusive” is how he sums up his approach.

Gorham’s Narragansett School Principal Cindy O’Shea, Gorham, was awarded the Maine Elementary Principals’ Association’s 1992 Distinguished Principal’s Award Thursday at the organization’s spring conference. O’Shea was chosen for her work at creating a school of inquiry, a teacher-scholar program and providing Gorham with the state’s largest school restructuring grant of $50,000 in 1988. O’Shea will join over 50 other honored principals at a program in October in Washington, D.C.

Dennis H. McAlister son of Herbert and Mary McAlister, Marilyn Avenue, Westbrook, has earned a marine firefighting certificate in a five-day course at that included training at the Barnstable County Fire and Police Training Academy, Hyannis, Massachusetts. The certificate is required for a merchant marine officer license. He has spent nine years in maritime work as a tug crewman, charter boat operator and in shipbuilding, and is preparing for a 1,600-ton vessel master’s license. Dennis is a 1976 graduate of Westbrook High School.

Christine Marston, daughter of Shirley Hanscom, Westbrook, became the bride of Steve Allen of Westbrook, son of Beverly Sawyer of Gorham, on April 25 in South Portland. Her daughter, Angela, was wed a week later to Michael Neff, Peoria, Illinois, in a ceremony on the bandstand at Riverbank Park, Westbrook.

May 15, 2002

Brett Donham of Donham and Sweeney, Boston, architect of the new Westbrook fire-police-rescue headquarters, met Monday with the City Council Finance Committee to discuss his recent requests for a 25 percent increase in fees, to nearly $500,000. At meeting’s end, Donham said he’d limit his request to increases based on the increase in square footage only, above the 32,000 square feet called for in the contract the city approved in January 2001.

Photo caption: Workers from R.I. Chase Building Movers, Wells, were busy yesterday setting steel beams and more timber cribwork for moving the Warren Memorial Library in Westbrook. A tractor will slide it along the beams to a new position closer to the Presumpscot River, and after a concrete foundation is poured beneath it, cribwork and beams will come out.

Saturday evening, May 11, began with the surprise arrival of a limousine at Al and Barbara Hawkes’ house at 58 Hardy Road in Westbrook. Then came an evening of celebration of the 50th anniversary of their wedding, put together by their daughter, Darleen Doughty. Before leaving for dinner at the Roma in Portland, their favorite restaurant for all 50 years, they were paid a surprise visit by Don and Beth Blanchard, Scarborough, friends of nearly 60 years. Al is still active playing country music and Barbara is Westbrook’s city clerk.

With the Presumpscot River swollen and dangerous from Monday night’s heavy rains, and with cold wet weather predicted for today, Presumpscot River Watch called off today’s planned river cleanup session. Wescott Junior High School seventh- and eighth-graders were to help clean trash from the river from Saccarappa Falls up to South Windham, riding on rubber rafts and dumping what they collected into a trash barge raft.

The Gorham Town Council on a 7-0 vote has found that an airstrip across an abandoned stretch of Rust Road obstructs the public easement. It voted to order the property owners, Allyn and Alyson Caruso, “to commence removal of the obstruction within 30 days.” If they fail to do so, the council will seek a court order. The airstrip was built in September on land the Carusos won off Fort Hill.

Shaw Brothers Construction Inc., Gorham, has won a 2002 Build Maine Award in recognition of its $15 million job to widen and modernize 7 miles of the Maine Turnpike between Scarborough and Saco.

Nicholas LaChance, son of Darrell and July LaChance, 32 Bernadette St., Westbrook, was among Westbrook Regional Vocational Center students who attended the recent national conference of DECA, Distributive Education Clubs of America, in Salt Lake City, Utah. It’s the third year he’s gone. He was recognized at a brunch for receiving a full DECA scholarship to Johnson & Wales University, Providence, one of two the school granted nationally.

This photo shows the old Brackett Block at Brackett and Main streets in 1973 just prior to being razed during the urban renewal project. The building was also known as the LaFond Block, after a dry goods store that occupied the first floor for many years. Built in 1850, the building was part of the Underground Railroad that helped runaway slaves flee into Canada. Sewall Brackett, railway station agent John Brown, Capt. Isaac Quimby and the Rev. H.J. Bradbury all helped the fleeing slaves. The building was attached to a brick house behind it at 15 Brackett St., built in 1815 by Zachariah Brackett for his sons, Sewall and Carpenter Brackett, with bricks from his Prides Corner Brick Yard where he lived. Brackett Street no longer connects to Main Street, the section between Main Street and William Clarke Drive was closed off during urban renewal. 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 westhistorical@myfairpoint.net. The website is www.westbrookhistoricalsociety.org.

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