March 15, 1995

The Westbrook High School girls basketball team defeated Morse High, 55-42, to win the Western Maine championship last Saturday. They play undefeated Cony High School in Bangor this Saturday for the state title.

The City Council’s upcoming vote on a tax increment financing district for Acadia Insurance and Portland Glass will also include something more far reaching. The council will be voting to create and fund a new city body, the nonprofit Westbrook Environmental Improvement Corp., with big goals: to help coordinate further TIF districts in the city and use TIF money for several special projects. These could include building sewers and treatment plants or a new rubbish-burning facility.

The Frederick Robie School got a last-minute reprieve March 7 from the Gorham Town Council and will not be demolished for at least the next 90 days. Mrs. Mary Lee Dodge of the Gorham Historical Society presented a petition with nearly 500 signatures supporting a delay until all possible uses for the 107-year-old building could be evaluated.

Florence Wing, who compiles Westbrook Notes, writes that her crocuses “got a jump on spring. Their deep purple blossoms added beauty to the foggy, cloudy day Wednesday, a day with very little sunshine but spring-like weather.”

March 15, 2005

Zyacorp, a Manchester, New Hampshire-based company, is eyeing 36 acres on County Road for a new 16-screen Cinemagic movie theater for Westbrook. The company needs Planning Board approval for an amendment to the land use ordinance for the parcel, which is zoned for industrial use. Once permits are secured, construction could start later this year and the theater could be ready for moviegoers in early 2006.

After a 23-year teaching career and 10 years directing theater productions at Gorham High School, Gordon Strout is bowing out in June. The school’s production of “Damn Yankees,” which concludes this weekend, is Strout’s finale at the school.

Gorham’s newly hired town clerk, Christina Silberman, 36, will visit the municipal center March 21 to meet town officials and employees. She begins her duties on March 28. She’s been a deputy town clerk in Falmouth. Silberman replaces Brenda Caldwell, who retired at the end of December after 28 years.

Westbrook girls sixth-grade basketball team took on Lincoln Middle School girls Friday night for the Portland Boys and Girls Club league championship. Westbrook, which had previously lost two of four games to Lincoln, vowed that wouldn’t happen again. True to their word, they defeated Lincoln, 36-24.