State and local police early Tuesday continued their close-lipped stance on the cause of death of Alice Hawkes, 23, whose body was found Sunday morning in her top-floor apartment at 8 Spring St., Westbrook. Reportedly, police still aren’t sure if the death was a murder or suicide. Police have refused to identify the implement of death. Results of an autopsy by state medical examiners were not expected until tomorrow. Hawkes had been renting the apartment for about a year and a half. She lived with Stephen Bouchard, who Deputy Attorney General Fern LaRochelle has said he does not consider a suspect in the death. “It’s very upsetting – you’d never imagine anything like this ever happening,” said landlord Bob Margiloff. He said both Hawkes and Bouchard made excellent tenants and “they both were super, super people. It’s real sad.”

Westbrook School Department will use portable classrooms at the high school and wait for as much as three years before attempting again to get voter approval for construction. Superintendent Edward Connolly said Monday he won’t again ask taxpayers to pay the whole cost of high school improvements unless state aid looks more than three years away. Voters turned down May 19 a $9.1 million city-financed proposal. Connolly said changes in the city’s situation and in state rules are making it more likely that the state will help. Enrollment at the school is at 913.

Mayor Phillip D. Spiller is unchallenged for re-election – apparently the first person since the city got its Republican charge in 1907 to be unopposed for election as mayor. William L. Clarke, Republican, is unopposed for re-election as city clerk. The only Democratic city-wide candidate on the November ballot is Elmer T. Welch, chairman of the city’s Zoning Appeals Board, who is nominated for alderman at large. He will seek to knock off one of the two Republicans seeking re-election as alderman at large, Lyle Cramer and Terry A. Quinlan.

It’s fair time! Lyle Merrifield, North Gorham Road, drove his tractor in competition at the Cumberland Fair. Shayne St. Cyr, Fort Hill Road, and Travis Caruso of Orono, have returned from the Eastern States Exposition with the animals they showed. Shane went on to the Cumberland Fair.

Oct. 8, 1997

R.J. Grondin and Sons will start Oct. 9 on improvements and expansion of the athletic fields at Westbrook High School. The City Council gave final approval Monday to Grondin’s contract to do the work for $853,783, The council asked Grondin the limit the immediate work to the football field plus the clearing of trees on the whole site. The football field work, which includes installation of under drains, irrigation main lines, stripping topsoil, regrading, loaming and seeding, is to be completed by Dec. 1. Clearing the trees may wait until the ground freezes, or until after the Nov. 4 referendum on expanding the vocational center. Groundbreaking on the project is Oct. 9. The ceremony will follow the last home game of the season for the boys soccer team. The football team still has home games against Portland and Bonny Eagle scheduled, but they’ll be played instead on the other team’s field.

At the request of Mayor Kenneth Lefebvre and City Solicitor Michael Cooper, the Westbrook City Council voted 5-0 Monday to ask the administration to develop a proposal for the city to borrow $1 million and loan it to businesses. New loans are hard to get from banks, James Bennett, the mayor’s administrative assistant, explained to the council’s Community Services and Economic Development Committee, chaired by Ann Peoples, which first endorsed the proposal. Cooper told the committee last month that a rotating fund established a dozen years ago with a $100,000 state-federal grant has had no losses, but only $6,000-$8,000 is available for new loans. He said there is “serious interest” on the part of businesses in borrowing $830,000 from the city, though he offered no details on the name or type of business. Four companies are interested in locating or expanding, he said.

The Gorham Station Restaurant, 29 Elm St., more recently known as Jasper’s Restaurant at Gorham Station, is under contract to developer Susan Duchaine, she confirmed yesterday. She said that if her plans to complete the purchase by the end of October go through as expected, she wants to find a tenant for the building and open it again, preferably as a restaurant. George and Diane Lair were the most recent tenants of the building, where they ran the restaurant for four months until they closed in Sept. 7 because of George Lair’s poor health, he said. The restaurant is owned by John Martin of Boca Raton, Fla.

Mrs. Beverly Martin, Fort Hill Road, Gorham, and her daughter Alysan Caruso, Sebago Lake, spent a mother-daughter summer vacation on a beautiful trip to the Orient. They flew to Hong King, just before it left British rule, and sailed on a Royal Carribean cruise ship down the China Sea, a 14-day cruise to Canton, Vietnam, Thailand, Bangkok and Singapore. They flew home from Singapore. Beverly said it was an unforgettable trip.

Constructed in 1926, this building at 873-877 Main St. still stands next to the former Warren Furniture Co., which is now Portland Pie Co. When this photo was taken in 1970, Larry Simensky was the proprietor of Larry’s Jewelry Store at 873 Main St. Jacob Berson owned and operated Berson’s Woman’s Clothing Store at 875 Main St., and Leo Sabourin was the owner of Busy Bee Bakery at 877 Main St. These shops are long gone and the space has been converted into one large retail space on the first floor with a beauty salon and offices on the second floor. To see more historical photos and artifacts, visit the Westbrook Historical Society at the Fred C. Wescott Building, 426 Bridge St. Inquiries can be emailed to westhistorical@myfairpoint.net. The website is www.westbrookhistoricalsociety.org.