April 20, 1988

Gorham police have broken up a bad check scam dating back to January in which around $5,000 in merchandise and several thousand dollars in cash were bilked from businesses and banks in Portland and surrounding towns. The break in the case came when a third accomplice of the two men charged in the case blew the whistle on the operation to Gorham Police Detective Wayne Drown. Shortly thereafter, Shawn Moody of Gorham Auto Parts called Drown to report he received a bad check, written to buy a second-hand car motor. Moody identified the check writer from a photo lineup shown him by Drown. A Windham man and a South Portland man now face charges.

Keith D. Kohanski, 33, of Haverhill, N.H., will be Westbrook’s first full-time planner. Mayor Philip Spiller chose him from 44 applicants and expected quick confirmation from the City Council this week. Kohanski will start work about June 1. He is now a senior planner at North Country Council Inc., Littleton. N.H., serving a number of communities in northern New Hampshire. The City Council agreed last fall to expand the planner’s job to full time. The city has used the part-time services of a Council of Gornerments planner at various times and is using one now, Barbara Barhydt.

A baby elephant from Benson’s Wild Animal Farm brought a special birthday surprise Saturday to 7-year-old Kathryn Gerrish, daughter of Gorham Town Manager Don Gerrish. After cake and ice cream, the 30 or so children at the party were packed into cars and taken on a “mystery ride,” which ended up at the Gorham Municipal Center. Tanya the elephant arrived shortly in her custom-heated truck, which brought her from Hanover, N.H.

Westbrook’s 1988-89 school budget remained under wraps this week as Mayor Philip Spiller prepared to submit his city budget to the City Council. Spiller expected to distribute budget copes to aldermen and make the budget public at last night’s council meeting. The meeting was delayed from Monday by the Patriot’s Day holiday. School Superintendent Edward Connolly said last week that he would release the school budget after the Patriot’s Day meeting. When it was called off, he said he would hold back the budget until it can be rescheduled. That probably will be next week. Connolly said he wants to talk to the council before making his budget public because he hopes the council will accept some parts of it for financing with long-term loans instead of this year’s taxes.

Westbrook Community Hospital will seek to provide a wider, flexible range of chemical dependency treatment services with a new program, Flexcare. “It will be a readily accessible, 24-hour-a-day entry point for people with the disease and their families into the substance abuse treatment system, said Dr. Stanley Evans, medical director of the program. “It will be a point to start. A patient referred elsewhere can come back to FlexCare for his or her continuing needs. Westbrook Community Hospital has operating a chemical dependence program for more than 25 years and served 800 patients a year.

The Gorham School Committee put its stamp of approval last week on a school budget of $8,236,069, an increase of 17.14 percent over last year. Taxpayers will be asked to put up the local share of $4,497,630.

April 22, 1998

Gorham residents were shocked when they learned of the stabbing death of Gorham High School student Robert Joyal, 18, in the parking lot of Denny’s restaurant in Portland on April 4. Hours later, tragic violence hit the close-knit community again. Paul Batchelder, 38, the father of two girls, was shot and killed in a robbery at Lampron’s Gulf Station on Route 25. Gorham police are continuing to assist Maine State Police with the investigation of Batchelder’s murder. Suspects in both cases have been apprehended. “This community has passed a sad milestone,” said Gorham police Detective Robert Goudette. “It was a very shocking weekend for Gorham when these deaths occurred. Many Gorham residents feel violated that things like this can happen here.”

Westbrook is considering buying all its petroleum and propane products from Dead River Oil Co. for 10 years without seeking bids. Fuel prices would be adjusted monthly or annually based on market price. James Bennett, the mayor’s administrative assistant, favors the plan as saving money and saving office time. He said that school bus fuel would be included but school heating oil is already under contract to another company. Dead River would provide a package of services at a discount if the city pays 10 (or seven) years’ service charges and 90 percent of 10 (or seven) years’ estimated fuel costs in advance, borrowing the money. The City Council can’t vote on the proposal until it is reviewed by the Finance Committee.

Despite a few glitches, the Westbrook-Gorham Rotary Club’s Patriots Day High School Road Race marked its 50th annual running on Monday. In the morning’s cold drizzle, more than 150 area high school runners turned out. Franklin C. Emery Sr. of Gorham, who conceived the idea for the first race more than 50 years ago, was the starting official for this year’s race. Cheverus runner Ryan Demers won the race.

Fire broke out in a back room of Coyne’s Variety, popular Cumberland Mills gathering spot, while the store was open at 9 a.m. on Sunday. The store’s inventory of foods was a total loss and there was extensive damage to fixtures, equipment and other stock. Fireman had to cut a hole in the roof. The same store, then called Fruitland, was almost destroyed by fire in 1983.

The Westbrook City Council gave final approval last week for spending $4,500 to fix the “blue notes” fountain in Westbrook Commons. But the expenditure did not go unopposed. Alderman John O’Hara said fixing it is a mistake because it will continue to need repairs at taxpayer expense. The found needs $2,000 for electrical work, $1,600 to repair the pumps and $900 for piping and other work on the tank. O’Hara said the downtown business community should pay some of the repair costs. He envisions a “downtown improvement district” financed in party by parking meters. Alderman Jennifer Connolly said the city needs to fix the fountain to show its commitment to keeping Westbrook clean. Mayor Donald Esty said fixing the fountain would show the consultants, hired for $27,000 to evaluate downtown, that the city was serious about improvements.

The Westbrook Woman’s Club has elected Pauline Goldman as its new president. She succeeds her mother, Marilyn Kennie.

Out in Bozeman, Mont., Lisa Brooks, daughter of James and Lory Brooks of Gorham, has been paying close attention to a colony of monkeys for a year. Her special interest is in the significance of their yaws. A 1985 graduate of Gorham High School who was head of the honors society at the University of Southern Maine, Brooks is an assistant professor of psychology at Montana State University.

In the early 1970s, Russ Lemieux sold his Texaco Station at 897 Main St. and built this new Sunoco Service Center at 570 Main St. Lemieux later sold the business and it went through a couple of owners and franchises before closing permanently.The building was eventually demolished and the site remained a vacant lot until it the purchased by the city and the Westbrook Public Safety Building was constructed there. 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. Photo and research courtesy of Mike Sanphy