May 3, 1989

A Westbrook police dog, still attending school, is getting much of the credit for capturing two inmates around 91?2 hours after they escaped from the Maine Correctional Center in Windham Thursday. Westbrook Police Officer Michael McCaffrey said his 21?2–year-old German shepherd dog, Taro, found one inmate hiding in some underbrush near the railroad between Cumberland and Main streets at around 11:15 p.m. The second man was found shortly thereafter hiding under a boat trailer near Pratt-Abbott in Cumberland Mills. Timothy Robinson, 23, of Lewiston, and Michael Fitzpatrick, 18, of Bangor, escaped while on laundry detail. No other details were released by MCC officials.

The Westbrook Housing Authority needs $525,000 to buy the land of Alderman Alexander Juniewicz and his wife, and it needs at least four aldermen’s votes for a zone change if it is to go ahead with its plan for 100 public housing apartments for the elderly on East Bridge Street. The WHA has an option on the 26 acres that runs to Sept. 8. It gave the $525,000 price tag, which translates into $20,192 an acre, in applying to the Maine State Housing Authority for a loan for the $4.6 million project, which includes land and building.

Mayor Philip Spiller prevailed on the Westbrook City Council Monday to give up from six to 10 parking spaces in favor of grass on the Wayside Drive end of the new addition to the Walker Memorial Library. Spiller said several members of the Planning Board told him the parking should be removed.

Oranges went down, tomatoes stayed the same, but 17 other foods went up in price this year, School Lunch Director Toni O’Donnell has reported to Westbrook Superintendent Edward Connolly. Also, school lunch workers are better paid than neighboring programs. Westbrook is the only place paying benefits to school lunch personnel regardless of the number of hours worked. O’Donnell said those are the chief reasons the school lunch program is in the red, and asked for $50,000 in subsidy for the program, which paid its own way until last year.

A 20-lot subdivision project off Fort Hill Road near the Standish line was given preliminary approval from the Gorham Planning Board last week. The lone dissenter, Phil Levine, echoed the concerns of neighbors who said the project had too many lots for a rural zone.

St. Martin in the West Indies was the destination of Paul and Pat Weeks, Johnson Road, Gorham. They stayed in the French-governed northern half of the island, but traveled to the Dutch-ruled south and visited other islands. They visited St. Barth’s by way of a catamaran sailing ship and ferried to Anguilla. It was tough to leave 80-degree weather, they said.

May 5, 1999

Stan Sawyer is the finalist to become Westbrook’s new school superintendent. Sawyer is now superintendent in School Administrative District 52, which covers the rural Androscoggin County towns of Turner, Leeds and Greene. Sawyer has held the position for the past 14 years. He is also president-elect of the Maine State Superintendents Association.

The former Foye’s Carpet building at 28 Stroudwater St. in Westbrook is peddling something new these days. It’s selling clothing – “women’s intimate apparel” is the polite term for these revealing items. A sign, “Jennifer’s Nightstand,” recently went up above one the store windows and a few garments are hung in the window. The lingerie shop is evidently in business, though if so, without the grace of any city permits.

Gorham town councilors are proposing to spend money for real estate appraisals of private land adjacent to Mosher’s Corner that might be needed for a new road they want to build connecting the intersection with the Gorham Industrial Park. They were to vote last night on sending the matter to their economic development subcommittee. Responding to rumors that a big retailer such as Shaw’s Supermarkets or Target department store might purchase the land near the Route 25-Route 237 intersection, councilors voted April 6 to approve a resolution warning “prospective developers” that the town intends to preserve access to the industrial park.

Southern Maine Activities Association high schools have turned a cold shoulder to Westbrook Kiwanis Relays, ending a 34-year tradition. The popular boys’ outdoor track meet wasn’t held last year while Westbrook’s athletic field complex was under construction, and SMAA athletic directors have since met and voted to cut off funding and drop it from their official schedule.

Only 14 percent of Westbrook voters turned out for a special election last week in which the only item on the ballot, a $2.83 million expansion of Canal Elementary Shool, was approved, 677-535. With interest, the project is expected to cost $4,315,750. Superintendent Robert Hall said that construction should be finished in time for the start of the fall 2000 school year. The project will add a new gym, raised stage area, kitchen, music room and cafeteria and three new classrooms.

Gorham Trails will build an .8-mile trail behind Gorham High School, thanks to a $25,000 National Recreational Trains Act grant from the Maine Department of Conservation. Bob Frazier, president of the organization, hopes it will lead to a larger trail that would surround the 89-acre closed landfill owned by the town at the end of Weeks Road, which would be used by the Shaw School’s and high school’s cross-country teams as a practice course.

50 YEARS AGO

The Westbrook American reported on May 6, 1964, that Philip Dugas of Gorham, newly appointed cubmaster of Cub Scout Pack 74, called an organizational meeting at the high school.

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Johnson of Portland purchased the house formerly owned by Carrol Rounds at the intersection of routes 22 and 112 in West Buxton.

FUN FACTS ZBOUT WESTBROOK

On June 9, Westbrook will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the year it separated from Falmouth and became its own town. Each week leading up to the celebration, the American Journal will publish some Westbrook trivia.

• Westbrook, population about 17,000, is on the Presumpscot River, in Cumberland County. Before the city received its name, there were two villages. They were called Saccarappa and Ammoncongin.

• Westbrook became a town in 1814 and was named for Col. Thomas Westbrook, who came to Maine in 1727. It became a city in 1891 and Leander Valentine was elected the first mayor.

Byron G. Pride Co., a dealer in coal, wood, oil and ice, operated at this building at 543 Main St. for more than half a century. Dodge Oil Co. took over the building when B.G. Pride went out of business in 1975. Dodge Oil Co. relocated a couple of years later and the next occupant was Discount Records, but only for a couple of months. This photo shows when Pizza Mill opened at this location for a short time in 1980. Larry Napolitano then opened Maria’s Pizza. Subsequently, several other small businesses, including Auntie Leone’s Pizza, occupied the spot. Its present occupant Carlo L. Giraulo Allstate Insurance. To see more historical photos and artifacts, visit the Westbrook Historical Society at the Fred C. Wescott Building, 426 Bridge St. Inquiries can be emailed to westhistorical@myfairpoint.net. The website is www.westbrookhistoricalsociety.org.