45 years ago The Westbrook American reported on Nov. 20, 1963, that Shirley Irving of Gorham, a senior at the University of Maine in Orono, was a practice teacher at Bonny Eagle High School. Dr. D.S. Drummond of Bar Mills drove to New York for a short vacation.

When Vanessa Piper moved her family from Orlando, Fla., to Westbrook to be closer to her sick father, she didn’t think that her biggest concern would be finding a place to live. But after being kicked out of a friend’s house and turned away from Portland shelters, Piper, her husband and four children ranging in […]

When Vanessa Piper moved her family from Orlando, Fla., to Westbrook to be closer to her sick father, she didn’t think that her biggest concern would be finding a place to live. But after being kicked out of a friend’s house and turned away from Portland shelters, Piper, her husband and four children ranging in […]

CUTLINE ONLY PUBLIC WORKS JPG Westbrook’s Public Works Department was recognized at a City Council meeting Monday when it received the Safety and Health Award for Public Employers, or SHAPE, from the Department of Labor. In order to qualify for the award, the department had to show a decrease in injuries and illnesses of its […]

CUTLINE ONLY PUBLIC WORKS JPG Westbrook’s Public Works Department was recognized at a City Council meeting Monday when it received the Safety and Health Award for Public Employers, or SHAPE, from the Department of Labor. In order to qualify for the award, the department had to show a decrease in injuries and illnesses of its […]

Gorham High School was evacuated at 9 a.m. Thursday because of a gas leak in the heating system. Dennis Libby, chairman of the Gorham School Board, described it as “a very small gas leak.” Some had escaped into the school through air intakes. Libby said students and staff were evacuated safely. “No one was injured,” […]

More and more people are relying upon Wikipedia to learn about the world. But should we, when any revenge-bent chimpanzee can log in and change stuff? What’s to stop me from telling the world the New York Yankees have changed their name to “The Overpaid, Menopausal Wimps?” Approximately 36 percent of us online types use […]

Gorham is grappling with whether to repeal taxes in the form of impact fees it now levies and collects on new homes before they’re even built. Town Councilor Burleigh Loveitt, former chairman, said last week that current impact fees are inequitable and unfair. Loveitt said it’s a tax against people who aren’t living in Gorham […]

New design standards for houses built on small lots could be put in place soon. The Westbrook City Council gave preliminary approval Monday to design standards that would require houses built on lots that are smaller than the current minimum size, to match the other houses in their neighborhoods. The city took up the issue […]

The contract zone for Stroudwater Place will return to the City Council with another positive recommendation from the Planning Board. In the past month, the City Council made several amendments to the contract zone proposed by developer Jason Snyder, putting further restrictions on the mix of uses, the size and the impacts of the $300 […]