176/176a Rocheleau’s Clothing Store opened in the early 1900s at 861 Main St., when Westbrook was a thriving community of local businesses. Rocheleau’s survived the hard times of the Great Depression and survived a devastating fire in 1942 that destroyed the upper floors of the building in which it was located. The urban renewal project […]

The hard work of a Windham family paid off when it came to finding their dog, which went missing in Westbrook last week. A set of bizarre circumstances and an effort to get the word out about 3-year-old golden retriever Casco’s disappearance resulted in his return to Richard Jacobson and his sons, Griffin, 10, and […]

Gorham Superintendent Ted Sharp has lowered the number of job reductions to 20 full- and part-time positions from 30 he first proposed in his preliminary school budget for 2009-2010. Cuts under Sharp’s revision, discussed by the School Board during a workshop session Saturday, now would include 5.8 teachers, down from 12.5; six educational technicians, down […]

Someone (a lot younger) asked me the other day if I was worried about the “way things are” right now – specifically, the American economy and the wars and that, even with a college degree, that person couldn’t find a job. For many of us older people, the issues facing our towns, state and country […]

April 2 Parliamentarians meeting, Walker Library, 10 a.m. April 4 Mayor’s Office Hours, 9 a.m.-noon April 6 City Council meeting, 7 p.m. April 7 Planning Board meeting, 7 p.m. April 7 The Author Speaks, Walker Library, 5:30 p.m. (Elizabeth Sawtelle, “Journey from the Heart”) April 8 Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, 7 p.m. April 9 […]

I have lived at 60 Oriole St. across from the Spring Street property that Pike Industries now owns since 1962. My husband Jim and I raised four children here. Forty years ago, we were part of the neighborhood group that fought against Blue Rock moving all of their quarrying and asphalt operations to Spring Street. […]

A Westbrook artist is on the lookout for her painting, stolen from the Frog and Turtle restaurant earlier this month. Mary Brooking said the $450 painting, called “Startle Blue,” was stolen on March 8 from the Bridge Street restaurant. “We pretty much know when it happened,” said Brooking, who believes she was inside the restaurant […]

A Westbrook artist is on the lookout for her painting, stolen from the Frog and Turtle restaurant earlier this month. Mary Brooking said the $450 painting, called “Startle Blue,” was stolen on March 8 from the Bridge Street restaurant. “We pretty much know when it happened,” said Brooking, who believes she was inside the restaurant […]

Included are… 1) Two pretty stanzas from the ten stanza poem “On Loch Katrine” from his first book of poetry (The Christmas Tree and Other Poems) But not a ripple stirs the tide Of Loch Katrine, the queenly lake, As o’er its silvery face we glide, Save those the highland oarsmen make. The autumn evening […]

Hope and excitement over the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act have given way to confusion and frustration as local officials wonder how their towns will benefit from the so-called federal stimulus package. Only around 5 percent of the transportation funds released as part of the stimulus bill found their way to Cumberland County, and future […]