July 27, 1994

Plans for a housing development along one of the most scenic areas of Westbrook’s Mill Brook are back before the Planning Board. The same plans were abandoned after a veto four years ago by the late Mayor Fred Wescott. The plan involves 16 house lots at the Route 302-Methodist Road corner. Alexander Juniewicz, former Ward 5 alderman, is spokesman for the developers, who include Lyman Woodbury Jr. of Georgia, owner of the land. Woodbury’s sister, Louise Waycott, lives across the road from the Mill Brook land. She objected to the development when it was first proposed.

Gorham’s Town Council will be asked Aug. 2 to halt new home construction for six months. The town is in the midst of a building boom. New homes help drive up town expenses, said Town Manager David Cole. He hopes Gorham can bring in more commercial development instead of homes with children. When some developers heard about Cole’s moratorium proposal, they rushed the town offices with new applications. The 1994 total has surged to 100 in mid-July, compared with an average of 74 for the full year over the previous five years. Commercial development would not be affected by the proposed moratorium.

It was a perfect summer day July 12 when the Prides Corner Congregational Church Guild members and guests met at the cottage of Charlie and Betty Thomas, Westbrook, at Raymond Pond for an annual picnic. It’s customary for the Guild to honor those who become 80 years old. This year it’s Gertrude Nickerson (July 18). Swimming, walks and canoeing were activities, and they enjoyed conversation, sandwiches, a covered-dish luncheon and ice cream and cake.

The Centre of Movement, Gorham, sent a team to the national dance competition of the Dance Educators of America in New York City, July 4-11. The team came home with a gold medal in group tap, 11 silver medals, seven bronze medals and second-place trophies in six divisions. Team members were Adrienne D’Ascanio, Alyssa Caddie, Jenny Bauer-Conley, Kim Lemieux, Rachel Wadsworth, Tina West, Sarah Ham, Stef Woodsum, Erica Olson, Vanessa Watner Cariddi and Jessica McCourt.

July 28, 2004

A parakeet that survived a four-day fling in the wild is back home safe with its owner in a Westbrook apartment after being rescued from a Gorham rooftop. On Sunday, the 3-year-old parakeet, Blue Sky, escaped through a small open window in owner Steve Morelli’s Main Street apartment. On Wednesday, Tom Shane of New Portland Road in Gorham spotted the bird sitting on his roof. A friend who was a tree-climbing expert scrambled aloft for the rooftop rescue. Shane and his wife Tami went around his neighborhood trying to locate the owner, but after he told the story at work the following day, his boss said his girlfriend had read about a missing parakeet in a classified ad in the American Journal. Calling the AJ office, the couple then contacted Morelli on Thursday with the good news. “She flew to my shoulder and started giving me kisses,” said Morelli, who picked up Blue Sky later Thursday afternoon. In Gorham, meanwhile, Ken and Lorie Gallant of Mitchell Hill Road are hoping to locate the owner of an all-blue parakeet they rescued the last week in June when it landed on their deck. Lorie said the talkative bird is doing OK but is “yakking a lot.”

In a homecoming that has been delayed since Easter, Westbrook mother Sherri Tichy is waiting for a phone call from her soldier son, Spc. Paul White, who is expected to return from Iraq this week with his outfit, the 94th Military Police Unit, called to active duty back in October 2002. Tichy said the family is hoping for a reunion with White on Thursday or Friday. White, a 2001 graduate of Westbrook High School, has escorted convoys in Iraq and saw action in the Sunni Triangle and Ramadi.

A long-vacant service station in Buxton will soon be demolished so the town can replace it with a Korean War memorial. The Groveville Service Center had two large dumpsters in front of it this week in preparation for the demolition. Buxton already has a memorial to veterans of World War I and World War II, but, said Selectman Bob Libby, it was time the town had one for Korean War veterans, as well. The owner of the station, Jeffrey Bacon, gave it to the town after it had been sitting unused for years because of contamination in the soil below, which he discovered after buying the service station in 1986. The town is hoping to raise money and erect the memorial in one or two years.