Aug. 22, 1990

Almost every community in Maine has a few “local boys” among the soldiers confronting the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Westbrook is no exception. Eric Syphers, a 1989 graduate of Westbrook High School, is currently serving on the carrier the USS Inchon off Iraq’s shore in the Persian Gulf. Syphers, a lance corporal in the Second Division of the Marine Corps previously stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, left Aug. 7 in one of the first transfers of soldiers to the volatile area.

Westbrook video store owner Lionel Dumond took the initiative last week, printing up and distributing fliers urging “Say No Way to One-Way Traffic in Downtown Westbrook.” A study of possible one-way downtown traffic is now under way. Just how serious it is is a point of debate, by Dumond and most of the other downtown merchants are taking it very seriously. It’s a bad idea, they say. The study is the idea of Mayor Fred Wescott, who has asked PACTS to study the idea. According to ad in the American Journal, paid for by a group called Citizens to Save Downtown Westbrook, “one-way traffic does nothing but make it easier for out-of-towners to bypass Westbrook’s merchants en route to other destinations and more difficult for you to patronize Westbrook businesses. One way traffic will mean a drastic increase in the speed of motorists driving through town … and will be the final ‘nail in the coffin’ of a once-thriving business community.”

Renovations and repairs at Gorham High School and Little Falls School that were begun at the end of the 1989-90 school year have gone according to schedule and will be completed before school begins in September, said Paul Roney, facilities director for the Gorham School Department. The cost of the two projects is expected to total $825,000. The work was financed by a bond. The first day of school for elementary schools, Shaw Junior High School and Gorham High School freshmen is Sept. 5. Sophomores, juniors and seniors begin Sept. 6.

The selection of a new town manager in Gorham may be coming this week, said council Chairman Dean Evans. The seven candidates that had been invited to be interviewed have been narrowed down to five.

Gorham resident Bruce “Rudy” Rudolph was chosen by the Gorham School Committee July 26 to replace Stan Cohen as business manager for the school department. He began work last Monday. He has a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Maine, and was formerly employed as a senior business systems analyst with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine. Most recently he was an independent contractor with the Consulting Resource, a management-consulting firm.

Aug. 23, 2000

Westbrook’s City Council will vote Aug. 28 on whether to advertise for buyers or renters for the old junior high school-high school and, separately, for the old Warren School, most recently the superintendent’s offices. The council chambers and the parking lot and playing fields behind may also be sold, should a proposal suggest it and the council and mayor agree. James Bennett, the mayor’s administrative assistant, brought a draft request for proposals form before the council’s Building and Facilities Committee Monday and went away with a 4-1 mandate to bring back to the council completed versions offering each building to potential new users. Committee members favored broad leeway in what would be accepted.

C. David Thomas’ art show drew a record crowd when it opened in Oakland, Calif., in March, and now it’s set to open Sept. 7 in Framingham, Mass. The controversial subject of Thomas’ art is Ho Chi Minh, the leader of North Vietnam. Thomas is the son of Charles and Betty Thomas, 502 Austin St., Westbrook, and is a graduate of Westbrook High School. He teaches art at Emmanuel College, Boston.

The Rev. Lawrence J. Conley is the newly installed pastor of St. Anne’s Roman Catholic Church in Gorham. He was installed by Msgr. Charles Murphy. Also taking part was the Rev. David Flood, a professor at St. Bonaventure College in New York and a longtime friend.

Fire Service Explorer Post 50, sponsored by Westbrook Fire Rescue, was runner-up state champion in the 2000 Fire Service Explorers skills competition in Fairfield, Aug. 4-6. The post is for 14- to 18-year-olds who want to learn about fire-EMS service. It is the oldest such post in Maine.

Raelyn Remick, daughter of Rhonda and Robert Remick, Spring Street, Westbrook, was a cheerleader in the Shriners Lobster Bowl Classic football game July 14 at Waterhouse Field in Biddeford. She also participated in a week-long cheering camp at Central Maine Technical College, Auburn.

From Ramblings, a column by Anne B. Foote: Of course, Gorham’s Fire Department workers have a full a schedule as it is, but after we were among the many well-fed customers at the superb chicken barbecue dinner they put on at the Family Fair last Saturday, I was convinced that they could cater that menu – on weekends, perhaps? An added feature is that they cook that chicken on outdoor grills and the waiting customers even enjoy the rising smoke emerging from the grills. Also, the salads – macaroni and cole slaw – had to be prepared ahead of time. And the sweet corn they served was also delicious – picked that very day, I’ll bet. Our family can hardly wait until the Gorham firemen and their families serve this excellent dinner again next summer. We’ll be there!

About 100 people turned out last week and got a total of 10 minutes (as a group) to talk to the Gorham Bypass Advisory Committee. The public will have more chance to say what they think when an informational meeting is held Aug. 28 at Gorham High School.

Taken in the early 1950s, this photo shows Cardamone’s Restaurant at 920 Main St. The small, one-story section of the building was a variety store listed as 918a Main St. When the variety store went out of business, Laureat Gagne opened the Main Street Barber Shop there. In 1962, Peter Profenno purchased the building with restaurant from Michael and Maryanne Cardamone and opened Profenno’s Restaurant. When the barber shop closed, Profenno took the space to enlarge his restaurant. But in 2004, fire swept through this building and it was later demolished. Profenno purchased the former Hebert’s Market building at 934 Main St., and reopened Profenno’s Restaurant. Profenno late put up a new building on the site of his old one. It has apartments on the second floor and businesses on the first floor. To see more historical photos and artifacts, visit the Westbrook Historical Society at the Fred C. Wescott Building, 426 Bridge St. It is open Tuesdays and Saturdays, 9 a.m.-noon, and the first Wednesday of each month at 1:30 p.m., September-June. Inquiries can be emailed to westhistorical@myfairpoint.net. The website is www.westbrookhistoricalsociety.org. Photo and research courtesy of Mike Sanphy