August 1982

The Harold Watsons’ 10 silver Eisenhower dollars have been gobbled by Pac-Man. The 15-year-old Westbrook boy who stole them told police that he spent them and another $30 in stolen bills on Pac-Man and bowling. He got into the Watsons’ house at 47 Lowell St., Westbrook, when they weren’t home by forcing a window screen. He took the silver dollars from a jar in the dining room, and the bills from a drawer. Police identified him through questioning and fingerprints. They found out that he also broke into the home of Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Deshaies, 215 Pierce St., and looked around but didn’t take anything. The silver dollars are gone, but the boy has been ordered to make restitution, do 40 hours of community service work, and report regularly to a Department of Corrections officer.

Virginia Hanson, 19, of 118 Pierce St., Westbrook, saved two lives and possibly more by wrestling a revolver out of the hands of a boyfriend she had broken up with. He had come to her house with a .357 Magnum revolver intent on killing her and himself. But after he dragged her into his car and drove off with her, she punched him, grabbed the gun and threw it out the window as he swerved all over the road. She ran from the car screaming for help when he stopped and ran back to retrieve it. A neighbor called police, who arrived before the man could find the gun, restrained him, recovered and confiscated the weapon.

Four Gorham residents, Jerry J. Larrivee Jr., Pat Henderson, Janet M. Waterhouse and Frances Harriman, are suing the town of Gorham for failure to manage in “a prudent and intelligent” manner its Emma Shirley Waterman and Simon Huston trust funds. The plaintiffs argue that such funds were originally set up for the town needy. State Attorney General James Tierney and the State of Maine were also named.

From the police log: A bat was flying around in the home of a Files Street woman at 3 a.m. Reserve Patrolman Oliver captured and released it at Woodlawn Cemetery. A Cumberland Street resident heard someone trying to start some motorbikes on the railroad tracks off Pierce Street at 3:50 a.m. Police found the Yamaha dirt bikes and no one around them, and took them to the police station. Patrolman Merrill helped Portland police investigate a burglary at Portland Yamaha. On the same morning, Steven Keites, 3 Conant St., reported his 1982 Honda dirt bike, value $2,100, stolen from his garage. It was found on the railroad tracks on Pierce Street.

Alderman Philip Spiller voted with the Westbrook City Council majority to refuse stormwater damage claims of three homeowners on Sterling Drive, but said the planning board approved the layout of their street in 1979 without considering how it would drain in a rainstorm. Spiller is a former Westbrook public works director and city engineer.

August 1992

A charter amendment to require two public readings 72 hours apart and a public vote by the Westbrook School Committee for any school purchase over $1,000 may be on the Nov. 3 ballot. Alderman Lionel Dumond proposed the amendment in January. A long council-mayor debate had strong overtones of the purchase this summer of new uniforms for the high school band without school committee approval, or apparently, knowledge. Dumont said that Mayor Fred Westcott has been delaying action on it. Westcott denied this. “A whole lot of people are sick and tired of the school people running off in their own direction, all by themselves,” he said

Westbrook police were flagged down at Dunkin Donuts at 1:30 a.m. and told of a man standing on the Bridge Street Bridge who looked like he was in trouble. Police Sgt. Kirk Malloy and Patrol Officer Inger Johnson drove to the bridge and found the man still there. It was 35-year-old Kevin Woodsum, 6 feet tall and 280 pounds, who had been drinking and refused to talk to them. Suddenly he did a back flip over the upstream rail and into the deep waters of the Presumpscot River. Malloy grabbed life rings from the cruiser, heard Woodsum coughing and

climbed down the bank and into the water himself to get a life ring close enough to Woodsum in the swift current. By then, Woodsum was inspired to get out and, ignoring the rings, swam to Malloy, and the two climbed up the banking. Police took Woodsum to Maine Medical Center.

Westbrook may be without its regular school crossing guides when classes start again. Denied the nine-days-a-year sick

leave they have had in the past, some of the guides are talking about staying home. Mayor Fred Wescott assured the council that reserve police officers would fill the gap until new guides are hired if the present guides walk out.

Steve Corey of Westbrook is Maine’s Little League Baseball Volunteer of the Year. He has been a Little League volunteer for 15 years, first in Windham, where he coached and helped improve ball fields there and in surrounding areas. When he moved to Westbrook, he helped build a new concession stand, where he can often be found behind the grill. He mows

the grounds picks up trash and sometimes umpires a game.