Aug. 26, 1992

A man flagged down Westbrook Police Sgt. Kirk Malloy at Dunkin’ Donuts at 1:30 a.m. Aug. 18 and told him a man was just standing there on the Bridge Street bridge and it looked as if he were in some kind of trouble. Malloy and Officer Inger Johnson found the man still there. He had been drinking and wouldn’t talk to them. He suddenly did a back flip over the upstream rail and into the deep waters of the Presumpscot River below. Malloy took life rings down the bank and into the water to reach the man. Ignoring the rings, the man swam to Malloy, got out of the river and walked up the banking. Police took him to Maine Medical Center, and Malloy went back to the police station for some dry clothes.

Fewer babies and mothers were enrolled in Westbrook High School’s Teen Parenting Center for the 1992-93 school year, and the staff has been cut back by one person. That person, Jodell Usher, was transferred to Prides Corner School as an education technician. However, she resigned last week.

St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church has been a Westbrook institution for 75 years, and the parish is readying a celebration of the anniversary, to be held the weekend of Sept. 18-20. Friday events include a Kids Night Out party. Saturday there will be a dance at St. Hyacinth’s hall. On Sunday, there will be a concelebrated Mass, followed by a banquet.

The Prides Corner Lanes will expand to 20 10-pin lanes and 18 candlepin lanes under plans now before the Westbrook Planning Board. Owners Charles and Gail Kennedy of Freeport also plan to add nine tables to the billiard parlor, in the same building on Elmwood Avenue, and to relocate and improve the lounge and restaurant. Their major expansion and modernization of the 30-year-old business, at a cost said to be in the $1.5 million range, will make it the largest bowling enter in Maine that offers both varieties of the game. Because it is more that 3,100 square feet, the expansion needs site plan review by the Planning Board. A public hearing is set for Sept. 8.

Gorham resident Sarah MacDonald, daughter of Stephen and Anne MacDonald, is home from her summer in Denia, Spain, where she served as a volunteer at the Residentia. One of the ministries of the Evangelical Baptist Church, the summer center caters to camps and conferences from a variety of religious backgrounds and countries. Sarah discovered Residentia during the summer following her sophomore year at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, when she participated in the college’s semester in Spain program. She is returning to the school as a senior, with a double major in Spanish and English.

Aug. 28, 2002

From the Publisher’s Perspective column by Lew Hews Casler: The American Journal you are holding in your hand today is bigger, and we think it’s better. The new, larger format is easier to read, provides more room for news and information about your community, and gives us the chance to publish more and bigger photos. And the overall design is intended to better organize the news, which we hope makes it easier for readers.

Gorham won’t be getting any money from the state for school construction over the next two years, leaving school officials struggling to find solutions to the overcrowded elementary schools. Gorham was one of 92 schools statewide that applied for the state construction aid. Eleven were named to share $150 million in construction funds. Gorham came in 17th on the list. The town’s application for state funds included plans for expanding the White Rock School, closing the Little Falls School and consolidating students through the remaining three schools. The White Rock expansion was pegged at $8.6 million.

One familiar face that hundreds of Westbrook students will not see upon returning to school this year is Anne Wescott, who has retired after 37 years as a crossing guard for the city. When she first joined the police department’s team of nine female crossing guards in 1965, James Murphy was police chief and all the guards had uniforms of skirts and hats to wear. For $8.11 an hour, Wescott said, three times a day, foul weather or fair, she helped students get across Main Street, where she was located in front of Pratt Abbott. She was at that site for 20 years. “The bus would drop them off, and I would go into the other lane and stop traffic, then wave them across,” she recalled of her technique. “Betsy Strout was in charge when I started. She showed me what to do once, and that was all the training I ever needed.”

Dr. Roland K. Hawkes and his wife, Otrude Moyo, have bought a house at Gateway Common and will be moving to Gorham soon, along with their 8-year-old daughter, Lulama Moyo Hawkes. Dr. Hawkes is a Gorham native, the son of the Rev. Kenneth and Janet Hawkes, of 229 Flaggy Meadow Road. He is a professor of sociology and statistics and is retired from South Illinois University. Otrude Moyo has been hired as a full-time assistant professor in the department of social work at the University of Southern Maine and will teach on both the Gorham and Portland campuses. Originally from Zimbabwe, she and her husband are moving here from Makanda, Illinois.

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Carr’s Shoe Store operated at 3 Bridge St. for many years. Paul Thuotte later operated Robair’s Shoe Store and then Paul’s Shoe Store before going out of business. Phil’s Pizza moved into the building in 1978 and later sold to Jack and Edith Whippie and the business was renamed the Cornerstone Restaurant. The Cornerstone Restaurant went out of business and the building was vacant for a time. Chickie’s Fine Diner was the next tenant, followed by the Frog & Turtle restaurant, which now occupies the building. To see more historical photos and artifacts, visit the Westbrook Historical Society at the Fred C. Wescott Building, 426 Bridge St. It is open Tuesdays and Saturdays, 9 a.m.-noon, and the first Wednesday of each month at 1:30 p.m., September-June. Inquiries can be emailed to westhistorical@myfairpoint.net. The website is www.westbrookhistoricalsociety.org.