Oct. 26, 1988

Westbrook’s “wealth” has nothing to do with the state’s refusal to help pay for reconstruction of Westbrook High School; instead, the state based its decision on its won measurements of the need, Leroy O. Nisbet, director of the Division of School Facilities in the Maine Department of Education and Cultural Services, told Westbrook in a letter. He said the state does take a community’s ability to pay into account when it decides how much to pay toward school operating costs, but “rich” towns and “poor” towns are all on equal footing when it comes to construction costs. The top three communities in the contest for state construction money when Westbrook’s application was rated in February were SAD 17 (Norway), SAD 60 (Berwick) and Bangor. Voters will decide in a November referendum on borrowing $5.6 million to expand and remodel Westbrook High School.

The award-winning Westbrook High School Blue Blazes Marching Band will perform Friday at 4:30 p.m. at the Westbrook McDonald’s. The restaurant will donate 25 cents from every Big Mac sandwich sold from Oct. 28-30 to the band, to help finance its spring trip to Disney World. Disney World has invited the 130-member band to lead Mickey’s 60th birthday parade through the Magic Kingdom in April.

Gus is the new mascot of Man’s Image barber shop, 229 Brown St., Westbrook. Owner Don Harkins said Gus, a basset hound, is 13 weeks old.

Badly needed repairs to the Gorham High School gym roof will probably be put off until spring, due to worsening weather conditions and the possibility that the asbestos in the roof may have to be removed after all. Delaying the repairs will mean that the school basketball teams will play their home games at the USM gym. Gym classes will be held in the gym using one half of the floor after it has been sanded to correct the recent water damage.

Dr. Nancy Knapp has opened her practice in internal medicine and lung disease at 510 Main St. in Gorham. In Westbrook, the community hospital has announced its newest physician, Dr. David. F. Sturdevant, who will work at the Minor Emergency Room.

A $6,000 gift from the directors of the Warren Memorial Library has brought Westbrook the most extensive collection of PBS video classics available at any library in southern Maine. Twenty series are contained in the 202 one-hour VHS video cassettes that may be loaned out for three days, free of charge, to residents of Westbrook and surrounding communities. Among the programs: “The Ascent of Man,” “Vietnam: A Television History,” Shakespeare plays and “A Walk Through the 20th Century with Bill Moyers.”

Oct. 28, 1998

Residents of Black Brook Road in Gorham, where a host of chemicals were uncovered in residential well water earlier this month, are fed up with what they describe as the inaction, insensitivity and mixed messages of the Department of Environmental Protection. Bill Wood and Jeff Fitzwilliam, whose wells have been tainted by high levels of what the state considers toxic waste – acetone and MTBE, among others – met in Gorham High School Friday night with area legislators, Gorham Town Manager David Cole and Republican gubernatorial candidate James Longley Jr. A DEP field worker told them it was unsafe to drink or use their water even with filtration systems. But Paul Van Cott, the DEP’s regional director, said that the water is completely safe and urged them to use it for bathing and drinking.

The sudden tornado-like wind and rain storm of Aug. 24 took down and damaged so many trees that the woodsy trail behind Gorham’s Narragansett School is now quite barren, particularly since the Gorham Public Works crew has gone in to clean up the damage. “My husband and I walked through here and couldn’t find where the trail went,” said Claire Drew, for whom the trail was named in 1992. “I know there are some people who are upset about the cleanup,” said Gary Lorfano, public works director. “Clear cutting wasn’t the case. There wasn’t another tree taken down that wasn’t blown down or broken.”

The Casco Bay Concert Band, founded in South Portland over 20 years ago, moved to Gorham this summer, and on Sunday held its first concert in the Gorham High School auditorium, under the direction of Peter Martin, University of Southern Maine professor.

The concert was the first of the 1998-1999 season and if it is any indication, this season will be well worth attending.

Westbrook’s Democratic City Committee is organizing “a major door-to-door literature blitz” Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, and inviting all Westbrook Democrats to drop by for a “get out the vote” rally Friday night in the American Legion Hall. At the rally, candidates will be introduced and their campaign literature will be distributed for use in the door-to-door effort.

The Kiwanis Club of Westbrook has installed these officers: Ralph A. Johnson, president; Peter Curran, first vice president; Dana H. Smith, administrative vice president; Tom Curran, immediate past president; Earl Anderson, secretary; Jack Daley, treasurer; and Ray Andreasen, Walter Beesley, David Chase, Darrell Herbert, Christine Cain-Johnson, Ray Trzenska and Bob Wilson, directors.

LOOKING BACK

The Westbrook American reported on Oct. 30, 1963, that William B. Bragdon of North Gorham had taken a room in Portland for the winter.

Kenneth Emery of Chicopee (Buxton) was injured while operating his bulldozer at Bonny Eagle Pond. He returned home after receiving medical treatment at the Buxton and Hollis Hospital in Bar Mills.

The stately old mansion once stood at 730 Main St., at the corner of Stroudwater Street. Dr. Jacob L. Horr occupied this building from 1873 until the time of his death in December 1916. Horr served as an alderman in 1899 and as mayor from 1900-1901. In later years Mayor William B. Bragdon (1919) occupied this house. It was demolished in the 1950s to make way for an Esso gasoline and service station. The site is presently occupied by a Cumberland Farms Store. 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.