June 7, 1995

Seven men have been appointed by the City Council to the board of the new Westbrook Environmental Improvement Corp. Four are ex officio – they hold office and will leave the board if they leave the office. They are Mayor Kenneth Lefebvre, Aldermen Lionel Dumond and Paul LeConte, and City Planner James Fisk. The others are Charles Miller, a Portland lawyer who is to represent all landowners whose lands are involved; Donald Perkins Jr., a business consultant representing the Westbrook Community Chamber; and Jeff Worthing, an accountant, representing the Recreation and Conservation Commission.

The seating capacity of Room 114 in Westbrook High School got a severe test during Wednesday’s School Committee meeting, when about 20 adults and 150 students jammed the room to protest a cut in the music budget. They did what they came to do, persuading the committee to restore $15,600 cut from contract services – hiring tutors to teach the arts and skills of a marching band.

Girls took all but one of the top 10 spots in the 1995 Gorham High School graduating class. Top students are in order, Jennifer DeDominici, Beth Clark, Elizabeth Hillman, Marie Paschke, Kenneth Hall, Erin Morey, Jessica Scott, Kathryn Scott, Rachelle Curran and Jessica Allen.

Gorham residents Shawn and Chris Moody, Danielle, Jim, Ben and Nathan, entertained family and friends May 21 after children’s Sunday services in the West Gorham Union Church, when baby Nathan was baptized.

June 8, 2005

After 20 years with Gorham police, Lt. Ted Blais has left to become director of public safety at the University of Maine at Farmington. Blais, 43, a Rhode Island native, joined the Gorham department in 1985.

“He did a great job,” Police Chief Ron Shepard said. “The new job is a step up.”

On the campus of Westbrook High School, a young oak tree now stands in memory of a student taken too soon. Last Thursday, in between preparations for graduation, the high school senior class gathered by the football field to plant the tree in memory of Alanna Phillips-Crocker, a classmate who died suddenly May 20.

A group of Westbrook students is taking part in a project to restore American chestnut trees, which were wiped out in the early 20th century by a fungus. As a class project, the sixth and seventh graders planted chestnut trees at 862 Spring St., 410 Bridge St. and the East Bridge Street ball fields.

The Westbrook City Council has given final approval for a plan to purchase 40 acres off Saco Street to be developed into a business park. The city will buy the land from the Boivin family for $550,000.

The Gorham High School boys track team made school history Saturday after capturing the school’s first state championship in outdoor track.