The Attorney General’s office has refused to confirm that Alice Hawkes, 23, was murdered, despite widespread reports to this paper from knowledgeable sources that she was. The Bangor native was found dead Oct. 4 in her second-floor apartment at 8 Spring St. in Westbrook that she shared with her fiance?, Stephen Bouchard. A services counselor at Maine Savings Bank in South Portland the past several years, Hawkes was dressed in street clothes when found. Westbrook police, who have turned the case over to the state police, may not under the law make any comment on it, according to Chief Ronald Allanach. The family of Alice Hawkes has also been advised by police to refer all comment to the AG’s office.

Gorham Police Chief David L. Kurz will travel to Washington, D.C., this week to be honored along with 50 other law enforcement officers from around the country who have survived serious accidents because they were wearing seat belts. The officers, dressed in their hometown uniforms, will pose for a photograph at Georgetown’s Waterfront Park. The photo will be made into a poster promoting seat-belt use. This May, while driving his car to work, Kurz ran off the road and hit a tree. “I would have been seriously hurt if I hadn’t been wearing that belt,” he said.

A hundred gallons of garden water a day paid off for Richard Chretien, 211 Longfellow St., Westbrook. His pumpkin won first prize in the biggest-pumpkin contest of Suburban Agway in Westbrook, weighing 144 pounds 3 ounces. Chretien, 66, is a retired S.D. Warren paper mill worker. He planted the seed in a hothouse May 5 and transplanted it in June to his garden.

Peter Curran will be nominated this week to be athletic director and director of activities at Westbrook High School. He will be paid $30,378 for the remaining 183 days of school this year. The AD job has been vacant since the retirement of William Folsom in June.

The Gorham Town Council has rejected a proposal to rezone parts of the New Portland Road area from a rural manufactured housing subdistrict to a suburban residential zone. The suburban residential zone would have permitted lots to be smaller than the 60,000 feet required in the rural manufactured zone.

Maine Rubber International is continuing its interest in burning hospital wastes in its downtown Westbrook burner. However, it may put off further action until new state regulations come into effect early next year. Terry Rover, spokesman for the company, said its plans now call for accepting no wastes from outside Maine. As the first commercial hospital wastes burner in the state, it would find plenty of in-state business, he said. Maine Rubber submitted an application to burn hospital wastes in January 1986. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection ruled the application incomplete and asked for, among other things, a computer modeling of air currents and the loads they already are carrying into the Westbrook area. Grover said the company is weighing whether to undertake the expense of completing the application now or waiting for next year’s regulations.

Oct. 15, 1997

Sister and brother Janet and James McLaughlin donated nearly 26 acres of land with frontage off the Dyer Road to the town of Gorham last week. Janet McLaughlin told the Town Council, which unanimously accepted the donation Oct. 7, that she and her brother want to leave the land undeveloped. They inherited the property from their parents, Galen R. and Mabel McLaughlin, who both died in 1995.

Rumors swept the S.D. Warren paper mill yesterday that the No. 76 pressure-sensitive coater and the biomass boiler have been sold. A spokesman denied it, but acknowledged that the mill is talking about selling parts that are outside of the core business, defined as “coated papers and related products.” Reminded that Scott Paper Co. said it would not sell the Westbrook mill piecemeal, Luke Popovich, of the company’s offices in Boston, said there is no agreement on that to bind the new owner, Sappi of South Africa. Instead, he said, if someone comes along whose money says they can make better use of part of Warren’s business than Warren can, Sappi will sell that part. The No. 76 coater employs about 60 people.

Tony Black’s plan to take Westbrook High School students to a science camp on Key West next spring has been dropped. Not enough students signed up, the Westbrook School Committee was notified this week.

The Gorham Town Council has voted to hire the Portland Design Team to provide an architect’s rendering of what an expanded Baxter Memorial Library would look like. The council appropriated $5,000 for it. The town has been debating for months whether to expand the library on South Street or build a new library behind the Municipal Center.

Rodney S. Quinn and his wife Melba, longtime Gorham residents who now live in Portland and Green Valley, Ariz., recently returned from a three-week trip to Russia. In a two-page article with photos, he wrote: “One of the more rewarding and comfortable travel packages to Russia takes the visitor throughout 1,000 miles of Russian heartland on a river cruise ship, not only showcasing the glamour of the ballet and the impressive richness of art and architectural treasures in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but visiting in comfort the remote hinterland, where the people of the farm and forest – which comprises so much of this vast nation – welcome visitors into their two-room dachas and feed them from burgeoning garden plots.”

Westbrook Hardware Co. originally opened in  an old wooden building at 827 Main St. The building was originally known as the Boothby Block, and in later years as the Greene Block when the Greene Realty Co. in Boston became the owners. The building fell into disrepair and was eventually condemned  by the city and later demolished. Westbrook Hardware moved into a brick building next door at 837 Main St. This building was constructed in 1894 and was known as the Springer Building. Other tenants at the time were WJAB radio station, Parker’s Dress Shop, Boulter’s Radio & Appliance and the Riverside Apartments. Westbrook Hardware remained here until urban renewal purchased the building and slated it for demolition. Westbrook Hardware moved into a newly constructed building on Main Street at Ash Street and operated out of this location for several years. Maine Hardware Co., the parent company, renamed the store Westbrook-Maine Hardware. The Westbrook store was eventually closed. Maurice Gleckman was the manager of Westbrook Hardware. This photo shows Westbrook Hardware at Main and Ash streets just before going out of business. 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. The website is www.westbrookhistoricalsociety.org.     
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