June 22, 1994
Kenneth Lefebvre won election as Westbrook’s mayor last Tuesday and, “barring unforeseen circumstances,” he said, will take the oath of office June 27. The City Council will immediately face two decisions: Who will succeed Lefebvre as alderman at large (a vote of six members), and who will succeed him as council president (a vote of six plus the new member). Lefebvre said yesterday that he is not supporting anyone for alderman. Lefebvre received 1,413 votes, Republican Philip Spiller received 1,261 and independent Alfred Porell received 962.
There will be cuts to the Gorham budget before the Town Council accepts it, after last week’s budget recall vote. “I don’t know where or how much the cuts will be,” said Janice Labrecque, who chairs the council. A public hearing June 29 will be the only time the budget is discussed before it is adopted.
Sixteen community bands from throughout Maine will participate in the 14th annual R.B. Hall Day June 25, staging a continuous, daylong concert at Westbrook High School. S.D. Warren Concert Band is the host.
June 23, 2004
One of Westbrook’s oldest homes was struck when a gusty wind split a 150-year-old tree Sunday morning. Philip and Patricia Daszuta, of 42 Deer Hill Ave., who own the historic Lamb House, built in 1770, were awakened about 12:30 a.m. to the sound of smashing glass. Their huge mountain ash had split and fallen across the driveway, leaving its outermost limbs on the roof of a wing to the home. While the full extent of the damage wasn’t known Monday, the tree broke the glass of two windows and damaged copper gutters. The couple was thankful there wasn’t more damage. Workers on Tuesday cut the tree off the house, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Controversy has erupted after Ray Richardson, a radio personality and chairman of the Republican City Committee, was narrowly re-elected as president of the Westbrook Chamber of Commerce. He ran against Doug Jones of Maine Bank and Trust. Critics say that Richardson’s political activism has interfered with his role as head of the chamber. Supporters, however, say that he has done a great job leading the chamber and that his political views should not prevent him from chamber leadership. Mayor Bruce Chuluda, a former chamber president who sits on the board, said the chamber has “done well under his leadership.”
If a zone change is approved, the Westbrook Housing Authority will be renovating the old Forest Street School property into 11 residential condos, after the City Council approved selling the building for $200,000.
Bob Caswell has been named the 2004 Business Person of the Year by the Gorham Business and Civic Exchange. Caswell is the executive director of media and community relations at the University of Southern Maine, and has been the university’s exchange member since the group started six years ago. “I was very honored, humbled and surprised,” said Caswell.
Tim Fox and Anya Kushnar were not at their Gorham High School graduation ceremony on June 13. Fox and Kushnar have started the summer as volunteers at an orphanage in Borisov, Belarus. The two will stay at the orphanage for three weeks, then tour Europe for another week. They left on May 31 with a group from their church, the First Russian Baptist Church on Mosher Road in Gorham.
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