March 1981
President Ronald Reagan was wounded by a young man who fired a bullet from a small 22-caliber pistol. Secret Service Agent Timothy McCarthy, standing protectively next to Reagan, took the would-be assassin’s second shot in the stomach. He also survives.
Surrounded by concerns, Reagan joked, “If I’d had this much attention in Hollywood I never would have left.”
U. S. Senator George Mitchell spoke to Westbrook that morning, criticizing the President’s budget, but was back in Washington at the time of the shooting.
In Westbrook, someone fired five shots out the door of a Walker Street house where a big party was going on.
Lisa Blais, star athlete at Westbrook High School, has been awarded a full scholarship at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Va., and will enroll there in the fall.
Portland Savings Bank has established the Roger C. Lambert Scholarship Fund at Westbrook College in honor of Lambert, North Windham, president of the bank 1965-1980, now retired. It will be awarded annually.
By repainting lines, the South Portland Housing Authority is increasing the number of parking spaces at its 100-unit Broadway West housing development from 40 to 57.
Brian D. Weimer, son of George and Rita Weimer, a freshman in Gorham High School, has been selected by the American Scandinavian Student Exchange program to spend his high school sophomore year in Denmark
Hancock Lumber is opening its new store at Foster’s Corner, Windham.
A new bay at Scarborough’s Engine 6 Fire Station, Dunstan Corner, will be dedicated Sunday. A bronze plaque honors William Quentin, a young firefighter who was killed a year ago in a collision of two fire trucks at Saco Street and the Gorham Road.
A truck overturned in front of the Big 20 Bowling Alley, Rte. 1, Scarborough, spilling 2,500 gallons of No. 2 heating oil into the woods.
Lillian Kinmond, Mechanic Street, Westbrook, is home after a three-week vacation in Florida. The trip north was her first plane flight.
Mr. and Mrs. Donald Doane Sr., Highland Lake, East Windham, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary March 21.
Westbrook’s Bouncing Blue Blazes demonstrated their dribbling and passing basketball skills between halves of high school games. Members are fifth and sixth grade boys and girls. Ken Knapton and Greg Wilfert are coaches.
Jeff Foley, 11, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ray Foley, Windham, finished 487th in a field of 5,000 runners in the Boston Celtics’ third annual Shamrock Classic five-mile race in Boston.
March 1991
Standish Town Manager Suzanne Kennedy fired Code Enforcement Officer Richard “Baldy” Tompson. His wife Eva, assessor’s clerk, then quit. Kennedy wouldn’t explain. Tompson was named code officer in 1985, and in 1987 added the duties of building, plumbing and electrical inspector. About 50 town employees and citizens met in January to discuss problems they saw in Kennedy. Eva Tompson believes Kennedy blames the meeting on Tompson.
Dave Corsetti, 23, and Steve Webster, 21, were able to bring their plane down safely when it lost one engine on a flight from Millinocket to Lawrence, Mass. They landed in a field on the C. A. Small farm in Westbrook. They and their passengers, John Tudisca and his friend Doreen, had only slight injuries. The plane was hauled away in pieces.
In a letter, Mary Adams, Garland, condemns a proposed state law that would prohibit people from asking voters at the polls to sign referendum petitions.
Carol Richards is accepting donations for a stone monument in Westbrook’s Riverbank Park naming those from Westbrook who served in the Gulf War.
The Maine Highway Safety Commission is offering defensive driving courses in Westbrook, Bonny Eagle, Scarborough and Windham high schools.
For the 100th anniversary of Westbrook city government, the American Journal printed the 1891 inauguration speech of Mayor Leander Valentine. “We shall miss the old town meetings, about which cluster so many pleasing memories,” he said. Records show, he said, that Massachusetts set aside part of the town of Falmouth in 1914 to be known as Stroudwater but less than a month later renamed it Westbrook, “the name of a highly respected and very prominent man in the early part of old Falmouth.” Valentine said the city began with these finances: Bonded debt, $93,500; temporary loan, $16,000; school bills, $1,800; roads and bridges, $900; town officers’ pay, $1,000; new schoolhouse yet unpaid, $1,370.65. Against this total, $114,570.65 he listed cash assets of $49,209.57. He said, “Let your appropriations for schools be liberal.” He asked that people in the city’s almshouse feel no shame. He called for expansion of sewers, and cautioned that visitors judge the city by the condition of streets and sidewalks. Valentine read the city charter’s requirement that the City Council elect a board of assessors, one from each ward, in March. Taxes are a burden, he said, but “would be much lightened if each one was required to pay only his just share.”
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