May 13, 1987
The state botched the investigation of Terry Duran’s murder, so in desperation and with evidence from a “heavy drug user” and a prison inmate, they charged Mark Parker with the crime, his attorney, Stephanie Anderson, told jurors this week in her opening statement, Another Gorham resident, Scott Doucette, has also been charged. Each will be tried separately. Anderson stressed that the state was attempting to prove Parker was guilty based on “two fundamentally flawed premises. One is that she died on July 29, and the other is that they will not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mark Parker killed her.”
Robie Gym was built in 1930 and ’31, not in 1912 as we reported in last week’s story on the Gorham town budget. Lillian Grand, who remembers it being built while she was in high school, called our office to set the record straight. She said before it was built she practiced basketball in the old art room at what was then the Gorham Normal School.
Sunday, April 26, was the biggest day yet in the life of Spike Mattatall, 22. At 6:10 a.m., his wife Shelli gave birth in the Maine Medical Center to their first child, Amber Elizabeth. Spike, who races Modified No. 89 at Beech Ridge Speedway, went from the hospital to the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Mattatall, 170 Holmes Road, where they were hosting their annual open house first-day-of-race-season-breakfast. Then off to the races for everyone. Spike won the heat, then went on to win the feature to the cheers, tears and a standing ovation of his family members and fans, old and new. To finish the day, the pit crew, Spike, and family members went to the Maine Medical Center to hold Amber and tell Shelli of their day, ending with a celebration lunch at 9 p.m. in the hospital cafeteria.
Mrs. Dorothy “Dee” Roma, 41 Park St., Westbrook, spent 10 warm and overcast days, including Easter, in Williamsburg, Va., with her son and family, Mr. and Mrs. Jon C. Roma, Katie, Melissa and Amanda. Dee’s daughter and granddaughter, Mrs. Jae Kendall and Becky, Spanaway, Wash., are staying here until after school closes for the summer vacation. Becky is a sophomore at Westbrook High.
Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Nelson, Flaggy Meadow Road, Gorham, returned recently from a trip to Panama and a cruise through the Panama Canal on the “Great River Explorer.” Their ship took them to the remote San Blas Islands to visit the Cana Indians, and also up a jungle river to a Choco Indian Village. The weather was perfect, and the trip was unforgettable.
The Westbrook High School Bands won the top honor, the Grand Championship award, at the Chocolatetown Music Festival held Friday and Saturday in Hershey, Pa. Five months of strenuous practice in Maine’s damp and chill prepared the young musicians well, but all four events were held in perfect spring sunshine. The organizers billed it as a national contest; it did draw from all over the east.
May 14, 1997
Despite two meetings in which spokesmen for labor and management called for education in the metal trades, the Westbrook School Committee is dropping the subject. Students weren’t asked to sign up for metal trades, and there’s nothing for it in the budget. In a review of the Vocational Center budget by the School Committee Monday evening, there was mention of metal trades but no discussion, and no money was budgeted for continuing the program, Superintendent Robert Hall said. When it moved to drop metal trades last year, the School Committee, at request of Assistant SuperintendentMichael Kane and center Director Hal Taylor, replaced it with truck driving and computer maintenance.
A 14-year-old Wescott Junior High School girl who broke the nose of a 13-year-old girl, also a Wescott student, in Westbrook Wednesday was suspended from school Thursday, Superintendent Robert Hall said. Hall talked with the mother of the 14-year-old and planned to meet with Patrolman Charlotte Adams of Westbrook police before further action. The 14-year-old girl lives in Portland and may be ordered to transfer at once to a Portland school; or she may be allowed to finish the school year in Westbrook, depending on circumstances. Hall said he was especially concerned that a number of other students were at the scene. If it turned out to be a group targeting the girl, he would be much more concerned, he said. The 14-year-old girl lived in Westbrook for years but her parents moved to Portland late last year. At that time, Hall, in consultation with the Portland schools, allowed her to continue in Westbrook through the school year.
The Westbrook Planning Board approved last week the site plan of Portland Welding Supply Co. for a new plant on Scott Drive in the Glass World industrial park. Asked about a report that Portland Welding won’t build in Westbrook after all, Alan Saabye, executive vice president, said, “It’s been our intention right along to build in both locations (South Portland and Westbrook), and still is.”
Ron Cyr, 39, of 34 Lamb St., Westbrook, will graduate from the Westbrook College campus of the University of New England Saturday with a degree in computer information systems. It’s an achievement. For six years he has worked full time as a janitor at the Westbrook College campus, part time as a food service employee at Mercy Hospital and taken classes toward his degree. “I kept saying, this can’t be worth it,” he said. “I kept worrying that it would be over and wouldn’t be worth it. But the opposite has been true.” Cyr’s reward for his work and determination has started coming already. He has a new job as a computer programmer for Keane Inc., a Boston-based company that does custom programming for other businesses.
A 37-year-old self-employed mason, who had been living in a rooming house in Gorham, was arrested Saturday for stealing four checks from a Durham woman and forging them to put more than $40,000 into a savings account he opened at Gorham Savings Bank. Police say he had withdrawn more than $10,000.
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