Gorham Police Patrolman David Gray had no idea what he was getting into when he pulled over behind a late model maroon Firebird or Camaro on Route 237 near the Standish line early yesterday morning. It looked like somebody needed help. But when he stepped into the road a bullet fired from the car ripped through the palm of his left hand, making him the first Gorham policeman ever to be shot. At that point, “his training and adrenaline just took right over,” said Chief David Kurz. “He was able to return fire.” Gray emptied his .38 caliber service revolver (six shots) at the car. Kurz said the number of shot fired back is still under investigation. He said that was the only time shots were fired, at roughly 3:15 a.m. The car sped away north and Gray chased it for a little more than five minutes, driving with his right hand, up to Route 35, then lost sight of it after it turned north on 114. Patrolmen Lawrence Fearon and Robert Gaudette had joined in the chase, and Bridgton police, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, and the Maine State Police were also looking, but the suspect car and its occupant or occupants were still at large Tuesday after afternoon Dispatcher Bill Noble was the one on duty, relaying the calls from Gray. Gorham Rescue took Gray to Maine Medical Center, where his hand was operated on later in the morning. He was back in his room, resting under sedation, by late morning. Police said they had no suspects in the shooting.

Westbrook is dealing with not one but two major library expansions less than a mile apart, City Council President Donald Esty Jr. observed last week. “They’ll both tell you that they’re too far along to consider any changes,” he added, with an expression of skepticism. The first and more widely recognized library project is a $1.5 million addition to Walker Memorial Library. The second is the big new library that is part of the proposed changes at Westbrook High School. Its cost has not been isolated by the School Department, which says that the $9.1 million school job should stand or fall as a unit. Esty referred to the high school library, however , as costing $1 million. Esty said it is not clear from the preliminary drawings that the high school library could be used separately from the rest of the building, but he noted that it is at the building’s front entrance, which includes a ramp for the handicapped. The total cost of new construction at the high school is estimated at $4,535,197, of which $3,286,220, is straight construction cost at $470 a square foot.

Mrs. Robert Harris, Flaggy Meadow Road, Gorham, recently spent five weeks in Florida as a guest of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Audway Treworgy, in St. Petersburg. Robert Harris was there for the first two weeks. They visited Bush Gardens, Kennedy Space Center and Epcot Center. At the Morocco Pavillion, they met Mr. and Mrs. Allison Edwards, Cressey Road. Mrs. Harris visited Winter Haven when the Red Sox were in training. She photographed the players during their game with the Houston Astros and the New York Mets. Mr. Treworgy celebrated his 80th birthday March 27, and a party was held on March 30. Among the Gorham people who were in Florida and guests at the party, were Mrs. Faith Graves, Ruth Burnell, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Clark, Mrs. Cornelia Files, and Mrs. Ruth Hicks, and others from Maine. During the party, he was surprised and pleased when his daughter, Mrs. Linda Faatz, Robie Street, and son, John Treworgy, Belmont, Mass., arrived. He received approximately 60 cards.

The Dr. William Monkhouse collection of Maine-made pewter from the 19th-century is on exhibition at the Portland Museum of Art through June 28. It consists of 25 pieces – coffee and tea pots, lamps, pitchers, candle sticks, a communion flagon, and pewter-fitted teal. Three of the craftsmen who made it worked in Westbrook: Allen Porter, who worked from 1830 to 1838, and Freeman Porter and Rufus Dunham, who worked from 1835 to 1860 The fourth, Samuel S. Hersey, worked from 1840 to 1860 in Belfast. The pewter is a gift of Dr. Monkhouse’s widow.

The Westbrook Rotary Club’s annual Patriots Day 21?4-mile road race for high school runners starts at 10 a.m. Monday, April 20. It will go on rain or shine. Recreation Department races for various classes of younger and older runners will precede the Rotary race. The Rotary race is open to both boy and girl runners, and there’ll be awards for the top boys and top girls in these categories: first three finishers, first Westbrook finisher, first Gorham finisher, and top four-person teams.

April 16, 1997

The 109-year-old Frederick Robie School will get another chance. It came close to being torn down two years ago when its use as an American Legion Hall ended. Since then, it has sat vacant. But plans are under way for the building to be renovated and opened as the Gorham Community Teen Center, probably by this fall. The Gorham Parent Teacher Association unveiled the $250,000 plans Monday at the building. A major contribution of $20,000, has come from Shaw Brothers Construction Inc., Gorham, and volunteer design work has been given by Custom Built Homes of Maine, South Windham. These are expected to be the impetus for other companies and individuals to also give money, time labor or materials.

Westbrook city officials still were being close-mouthed this week on the subject of a “pending resignation.” Asked how and when the details will come out, City Council President Elmer Welch said Monday that he had no idea how, and whether, it will come out. Mayor Kenneth Lefebvre, who considered resigning last year, said convincingly that he’s not resigning. “They won’t get rid of me that easily,” he chuckled. A rumor is that the potential resignation is of someone in the police department, not the chief, and is “a strange story” and “a big story.” “The city is looking into it very closely,” said one alderman. “It’s a very emotional thing.” The council scheduled and held a closed-door executive session of more than a half hour April 7 on a personnel matter described at the time only as a “pending resignation.”

Daniel LaVallee has resigned from the Westbrook High School faculty to continue as a teacher in the magnet school, the Maine School of Science and Mathematics in Limestone. After teaching Westbrook two years, he was given a two-year leave two years ago to be one of the first teachers in the new Limestone School. He has chosen to stay on in Limestone, Superintendent Robert Hall told the School Committee Wednesday. “He’s very good,” Hall said. The committee voted to accept his resignation.

Jane Willett was the only dissenter as the Gorham School Committee voted 6-1 to approve a $14.6 million school budget and send it to the Town Council April 30. Willett said she didn’t believe the proposed budget “adequately addresses” class size. She said the student-to-teacher ration is increasing, and “class sizes will be quite larger next year. We’re the advocates of the students. I don’t feel an advocate for students with the budget the way it is,” she told the committee.

Westbrook will ask the state whether if it must dig up the 12,000-gallon oil tank that serves the Wescott Junior High School. There is no evidence that the tank is leaking, but it was installed in 1976 when the school was build and it is steel. The Department of Environmental Protection wants it out of there. Member Arnold Gaudet Jr.pressed at the Wednesday School Committee meeting for asking the DEP whether regular testing for a leak wouldn’t be enough. Sandra Gorsuch-Plummer of the committee said replacing the tank is estimated to cost from $31,000 to $67,000. A new tank would be Fiberglas and above ground at the location of the present one, next to the school building. It would be fenced off.

Clement Maxwell built this house and a barn at 214 Main St. in the late 1800s. A large tract of land with the house and barn was used for farming and remained in the Maxwell family until it was sold by John Maxwell around 1977. The property was purchased by a real estate broker representing Shaw’s Supermarkets, with plans to clear the land and build a store on the site. The barn was resold, dismantled and taken out of state. The house was used by the fire department for live fire training. Shaw’s later decided to build a store at Pine Tree Shopping Center and the land remained undeveloped until it was purchased by the Lee Auto dealership, which now occupies this site. The Maxwell family was prominent in Westbrook for many years and also owned the Deer Hill Farm, with a large tract of land across the street at 201 Main St. Westbrook City Hall and adjoining office building are on the site of the farm buildings. The farmland was developed into house lots and the area took the name Deer Hill, which was the original name of the Maxwell Farm. Photo of the Clement Maxwell farmhouse courtesy of the Maxwell Family. 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.      Research courtesy of Mike Sanphy