April 26, 1989

Three arbitrators ruled Friday that Peter Blanchette should get his job back as a Westbrook police officer, with back pay to Sept. 13, when Mayor Philip Spiller fired him on recommendation of Police Chief Ronald Allanach. It’s the third time Blanchette has been returned to the police force after a run-in with the administration. Arbitrators said the city failed to prove its charge that Blanchette warned a man that the state police were investigating him. “I wasn’t wrong and I knew it,” said a happy Blanchette. “I’ll go back in order to serve the people of Westbrook.”

A former Gorham patrolman who resigned in April 1987 amid conflicting accounts over how he got shot in his hand has now filed suit against the town of Gorham and Police Chief David Kurz. David Gray alleges Kurz forced him to resign and said he would fire him if he did not. Gray, who had been on the Gorham force for less than four months, charges that Kurz slandered and libeled him in the media by implying Gray was lying when he said he was shot by a suspect he had stopped at around 4 a.m. on Route 237 near the Standish line. Gray said Kurz spoke to the media and disclosed that “police believe no one but Gray himself was involved in the shooting.” Gray maintains he had stopped to check out what he thought was a stranded vehicle when a man got out of the car with a gun in his hand. Gray said he grabbed for the gun and in the ensuing struggle it went off, wounding him in the left hand. When the man took off, he followed in a high-speed chase. The man was never found. Gray is seeking a public retraction, reinstatement to his job and money damages.

The 10 Webb St. building in Westbrook that was destroyed by fire March 29 will not be replaced by owner Paul Holloway. Instead, he will add five apartments to the third floor of the five remaining buildings called the Congin Apartments at Scotch Hill. Holloway received unanimous approval from the Westbrook Zoning Board of Appeals last week for his plan. He needed a variance since he will have 54 bedrooms on 1.2 acres, where zoning regulation permit only 29 bedrooms. He will add a two-bedroom apartment at the read of the third floor of each building. The burned-out building will be torn down and the area grassed over.

In two 3-2 votes, with scant public notice, the Westbrook City Council voted its approval last week for public housing for the elderly on Alderman Alexander Juniewicz’s land off East Bridge Street. James Smith, director of Westbrook Housing Authority, said approval by the City Council was the first step in a lengthy process of approvals. He first has to find the money, estimated at $4.6 million.

Advertisement: Sweets ‘N Eats, 680 Gray Road, Gorham – The 1989 Summer Season has finally arrived! Come help us celebrate! Opening Saturday, April 29. Nancy, Bill and Scott have already begun the celebration by installing the newest and most modern soft serve machines made today.

April 28, 1999

C.N. Brown, which wanted to build a combination gas station and McDonald’s restaurant at the corner of Main and Mechanic streets in Gorham before town councilors put a moratorium of downtown development and then changed the rules, will withdraw its application, operations manager Charles Sheehan said this week. He said the changes in downtown zoning passed by the council April 6 effectively prohibit C.N. Brown from building. “Unless there is a better interpretation of what we can do there, we don’t feel we can come up with a design that will meet our requirements,” he said.

Westbrook’s City Council gave first reading approval Monday to an amended money deal with the developers of the coming gas power plant that guarantees the city will get at least $2 million a year from the plant, rising gradually each year to $3.2 million in the plant’s 20th year. Out of the total each year, $250,000 will go into a special development fund and the rest will go into the city’s general fund. The money plan, or Credit Enhancement Agreement, was presented Monday without explanation and no councilor asked a question or had anything to say about it.

The Westbrook Together Days festival will celebrate its 20th year this year. It is planned for June 4 and 5. The lineup of entertainers this year includes TangleToons, Rick Charette, Michael Wingfield Duo, Bellamy Jazz Band, humorist John MacDonald, the Phil Rich Big Band and Al Hawkes.

Jessica McGouldrick, daughter of Lew and Mary-Ann McGouldrick, Gorham, was the second-leading scorer on the Fighting Scotts basketball team of Gordon College, Wentham, Mass. A junior captain, she put up double-digit scoring in 19 contests. She is an elementary education and psychology major.

The Casco Bay Concert Band rang in spring Sunday with a concert entitled “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue,” in the Gorham High School Auditorium. This is the first season the band has been headquartered in Gorham. For the past 18-20 years it was based in South Portland, but ran out of room last year in South Portland’s Memorial Middle School.

Advertisement: Smiling Hill Farm Grand Re-opening. Our barnyard petting farm and ice cream barn will reopen for the season Saturday, May 1. Open daily. 781 County Road (Route 22), Westbrook/Scarborough town line.

50 YEARS AGO

The Westbrook American reported on April 22, 1964, that Donald Day, a Gorham native, was enrolled in a sonar course at the naval base in Key West, Fla., and Day after graduation expected to be transferred to the submarine base in Groton, Conn.

Doris Elliott of West Buxton and her friend Christine Boston of North Berwick were spending two weeks on vacation in Florida.

Westbrook Hardware Co. originally opened in an old wooden building at 827 Main St. known as the Boothby Block and in later years as the Greene Block, when the Greene Realty Co. in Boston became the owners. The building fell into disrepair and was eventually condemned by the city and later demolished. Westbrook Hardware then moved into a brick building next door at 837 Main St., the Springer Building. This photo shows the old Boothby Block just after Westbrook Hardware moved into the building to the left. The store remained there until urban renewal purchased the building and slated it for demolition. Westbrook Hardware then moved into a newly constructed building on Main and Ash streets. The store was purchased by Maine Hardware Co. and renamed Westbrook-Maine Hardware. It was eventually closed. 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.