July 5, 1995

Westbrook has two police officers, Inger Johnson and Patrick Lally, patrolling full time on bicycles – the most extensive use of cops on wheels in the city’s history. Chief Steven Roberts said the officers “are close to the city’s action. They meet people and get to know them.”

Susan Duchaine ordered the removal of soil at the site of her proposed office-retail development on Gorham’s Main Street Friday after the Planning Board decided to review its decision in favor of her plans Monday. The review and the removal followed close on the heels of a report by a neighbor, who said he found in town files letters from the Army Corps of Engineers ordering Duchaine to remove the material. Duchaine said she had ditches on the property cleared last year. The engineers said that’s OK but material from the ditches was, and should not have been, moved to wetlands on the property.

Gorham’s Robie Field now has floodlights, thanks to the Gorham Music Boosters and those who assisted in their nearly $14,000 project. The lights were dedicated last week at a Bambino Baseball playoff game.

Alec Randall of Westbrook, a 1991 Westbrook High School grad, is at Camp Heartland in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, giving his support to its work with AIDs- and HIV-infected and affected children. He is a student in Wesleyan University and is in his third year with Camp Heartland.

Mrs. Ernest W. Mains Jr. (Florence) of Westbrook, who had a triple bypass in March, is coming along well and has therapy three times a week.

July 6, 2005

Danny and Jon Shaw, owners of Shaw Brothers Construction, want to give Gorham something they never had growing up – a park with a beach. The brothers are on the verge of giving the town Shaw Park, 7.5 acres with a ball field and a pristine stretch of the Presumpscot River perfect for swimming, boating and fishing. Residents will be able to access the $1 million park by Partridge Lane, off Sebago Lake Road. Danny Shaw said they’re giving the town a park because residents have been tolerant of their gravel pits. They have 11, though some are located outside of Gorham.

Maria Dorn, executive director of Westbrook’s Mission Possible Teen Center for seven years, is leaving next month so she can spend more time with her own children. During her time at the agency, she said she launched programs and oversaw a move to a permanent home in the former Westbrook United Methodist church building on Main Street. Her successor has not been selected.

The iconic tower clock of the First Parish Church in Gorham has repeatedly stopped ticking this year and the Gorham Town Council this week is considering whether the town should pay for repairs. Balzer Family Clock Works of Freeport has given the town an estimate of $38,050 to remove, rebuild and reinstall works of the historic clock.

Westbrook students are doing well in college. Kathleen C. Athearn has been named to the dean’s list for the spring semester at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. Kara Borelli made the dean’s list at Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts. Emily K. Morse was named to the dean’s list with high honors at Connecticut College in New London. She graduated in May.