May 1982
District Attorney Henry Berry raised questions about the proposed county-manager charter in a meeting in Westbrook. Though invited, the Charter Commission didn’t send a representative to the meeting and questions went unanswered.
Gilles J. Focher, 35, of 134 South St., Biddeford, was shot to death at 11 p.m. Monday in the kitchen of the upstairs apartment at 17 North St., Westbrook. State police said he died “in a confrontation” with Richard D. Libby, 35, who located a revolver after his wife woke him saying she was awakened by noises in their kitchen. No arrest is contemplated, state police said. State police ordered Westbrook police not to discuss the shooting. They said Libby and Focher didn’t know
each other and that Focher was not armed. The state police press officer, Richard Moore, refused to discuss how Focher got into the apartment and said it was a question for the attorney general’s department to answer.
Someone kicked in the door and stole four chain saws worth $1,750 from the Westbrook City Forestry Department building on Stevens Avenue last week. The next afternoon, the children of Laurie Jacques, 19 Locust St., found the biggest saw on Frazier Field, the city playfield next to the forestry building.
Mark Finks, who says his first rule of politics is that small meetings accomplish big things, is holding meetings to seek defeat of the proposed Cumberland County county-manager charter in the June 8 primary. The first, held Thursday in the Westbrook police station, met Finks’ test for size. It drew eight people. Finks said he has been fighting proposals for county-council, county-manager type government
in Maine for 10 years.
Phil’s Pizza, 3 Bridge St., Westbrook, was sold by Phil and Peggy Audet to Mr. and Mrs. Jack Whippie, 84 Pennell St., Westbrook. The Whippies took over operation of the restaurant and will change its name to The Cornerstone. Whippie is a lifelong chef and has been chef at Phil’s for the past 2 1/2 years.
Michael Hamelin, a senior at Gorham High School, has written a computer program that could conceivably simplify card catalog systems in libraries all over the state, country and even the world. Michael’s program will find books in the library by title, author or subject and will classify them as fiction or non-fiction. “Everyone said it couldn’t be done and Michael said it could be,” remarked Lorraine Stickney, Gorham High School librarian. Hamelin knows eight computer languages. He’s been working professionally as a computer programmer since he was 16. Currently, he’s a subcontractor for Total Systems in
Westbrook.
May 1992
The twin-peaks image of topless dancing flitted across the scene briefly as the Westbrook mayor and City Council pondered Police Chief Ronald Allanach’s question of what kind of amusements they were licensing. They held up the license of the Westbrook Memorial American Legion Post for leaving blank a line describing its entertainment plans, but granted four other licenses.
Peter Brochu’s request for a three-month victualer’s license at a fourth of the annual fee has been turned down by the Westbrook mayor and aldermen. Brochu said Neat’s, 50 Brown St., for which he needed the license, may be out of business in three months.
Westbrook’s School Department has prepared a budget summary for the upcoming public hearing in a streamlined form. In about 17 pages of charts and tables, it presents major categories of the plans for spending $17,216,125 in local state and federal funds in the year beginning July 1.
The Gorham Planning Board took a sep toward approving a shoreland zoning ordinance. After reviewing an updated
version of the ordinance, the board voted unanimously to send a positive recommendation on to the Town Council for approval.
The Great Falls Bridge, spanning the Presumpscot River between North Gorham and Windham, will receive a $98,000 facelift this summer, courtesy of the Maine Department of Transportation.
A Gorham man died and a companion was severely injured when the car they were in collided with a moose. James Prince, 32, who had recently moved to Gorham, was dead at the scene due to severe head and chest injuries, said Police Chief Edward Tolan. The driver of the car, Johanna Snider, 30, was upgraded from critical to fair condition from similar injuries at Maine Medical Center, saidTolan.
The California-bound Westbrook High School Marching Band will perform at Riverbank Park during this year’s Together Days in Westbrook June 6. They will also be part of a grand parade, which promises to “make last year’s hour-long parade look like a minor traffic jam,” according to a Chamber of Commerce press release.
Lauritz N. Dyhrberg, a social studies teacher at Westbrook High
School, will tour Japan June 22-July 7 as a guest of the Japan
Institute for Social and Economic Affairs. He will tour urban and rural areas, visit schools, factories, farms and cultural centers, meet leaders and stay in some Japanese homes. He is one of 27 national winners in the 13th year of a social studies fellowship program.
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