Nov 15, 1995

Kenneth M. Lefebvre carried four of the five wards in winning reelection as Westbrook mayor last week over challenger Alfred E. Porell, independent, 3,321 to 2,530. Lefebvre led the Democrats to a near sweep of the City Council.

Steve Crocker, Westbrook’s newest police officer, will graduate first in his class at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in Waterville Friday. The distinction earns Police Chief Steven Roberts a special assignment. He’ll hand out diplomas to the graduates in ceremonies at Thomas College.

Robert W. Hall has been hired as Westbrook’s school superintendent. He’s been acting superintendent and assistant superintendent.

Construction of a new Key Bank branch in Gorham Village should start by next spring, with a bank official saying the New Fourteen Main restaurant could be torn down this winter to make way. The Planning Board approved Key Bank’s application to consolidate its two Gorham branches into one building at 45 Main St. Lucille and Charlie Balzarini are selling their restaurant to the bank.

Steven L. Leech, 54, of Cape Elizabeth, is Mayor Kenneth Lefebvre’s choice as Westbrook’s first personnel director. One of the purposes for the job is negotiating labor contracts.

In a basketball game for bragging rights between Gorham town employees and the University of Southern Maine administration, the DARE program in Gorham will come out the clear winner. The townies and the university staff will take each other on Nov. 21 in the USM gym. Proceeds from the evening go to the Gorham DARE program.

Nov. 16, 2005

At age 90, Fred Davis stood at attention when the Marine Corps hymn was played last week in Westbrook. A Marine during World War II, Davis enlisted in 1943 and served three years with the 3rd Air Wing training combat pilots. He was one of the many local Marines who celebrated the corps’ 230th birthday with a ceremony and cake on Nov. 10 at Westbrook’s Public Safety Building.

A year and a half after Westbrook Methodists decided to sell their church on Main Street, church members are still looking for a permanent home. The Westbrook United Methodist Church, which has a 200-plus-year history in the city, has been meeting in the American Legion Hall on Dunn Street since 2003. The Mission Possible Teen Center bought the building in 2004. The church had been interested in moving into one of the two vacant Catholic churches but could not afford the purchase prices.

On Thanksgiving Day, Joann Groder will rise at 2 a.m. to slide another turkey into an oven, as the Pythian Sisters of Buxton cook their second annual free dinner. The group fed 102 people last year and again are inviting the needy, elderly and lonely to join them for a full-course dinner with turkey and all the fixin’s. Most of the food is cooked on two stoves in the kitchen at the Pythian Sisters’ building.

A new citizens group has been formed to fight against a proposal by Sappi to burn construction and demolition debris in one of its boilers. Westbrook for Clean Air is made up of Westbrook and Portland residents who want the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to block Sappi from burning the debris, saying the material could cause dangerous pollution.

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