Jan. 18, 1984
The bed of a resident at Larrabee Woods, Westbrook Housing
Authority senior housing, had been moved (against recommendations) to a position were she couldn’t reach the room’s emergency pull cord from the bed. She suffered a stroke recently and lay in bed unable to rise or call for help, until mid-morning, when neighbors noticed that she hadn’t picked up her newspaper. She is now recovering in the hospital. The housing authority has repeated a warning to residents: Don’t move the beds in the apartments from bedside pull cords. Your life could depend upon it.
Downtown Westbrook doesn’t have enough pedestrians to warrant an “exclusive pedestrian” light cycle at Vallee Square, according to Richard Weeks, state traffic engineer. He said the guidelines call for 150 pedestrians an hour over an eight-hour period. Weeks didn’t have at hand a report on how many
actually use the crossings in Vallee Square.
Democrats refused to go along with a Republican proposal to put an end to a practice of Westbrook’s mayor and aldermen drawing up to a year’s pay in advance, but did set new limits on it – no more than six month’s pay, and nothing from the next fiscal year. Mayor Philip Spiller asked for a limit of three months’ pay in advance, to cover an individual’s expenses.
Spiller said Dorothy Winters, former finance director, told him
that no city official ever drew advance pay while she was in office. The practice developed after she retired five years ago, he said.
A bald eagle has been spotted almost daily since Jan. 9, flying
down the Presumpscot River into downtown Westbrook, then eventually turning and flying high and straight over St. Hyacinth’s north toward South Windham. Roy Leeman, maintenance man at the Westbrook Post Office, first
spotted the bird Jan. 9, the day before the snowstorm, chasing a seagull at about 1 p.m. “It was the darndest thing. He wanted that stupid gull,” Leeman said. He said the gull would repeatedly change direction at the last minute, forcing the eagle to wheel, as it was chased up and down the river. The eagle finally gave up the chase, he said.
Superintendent Constance Goldman reported to the School Committee that Gorham schools are free from dangerous levels of asbestos. The School Department hired Yankee Insulation, Lewiston, to survey and repair dangerous areas in the schools. The cost was $300 for the survey and $927 for repair labor and materials, Goldman said. Narragansett School is free of asbestos. The Village, White Rock and Little Falls Schools and the high school have some asbestos on boiler coverings, but not at a dangerous level. Those areas were encapsulated as were heating pipes at the Shaw School.
A rumor says Roger Knight might accept the Republican nomination for mayor of Westbrook, but Knight said, “I don’t think that’s likely. “On the Democratic side, Paul LeConte or Don Richards may challenge Kenneth Lefebvre for the nomination. Lionel Dumond, Ward 1 alderman, Republican, and Alfred E. Porell, independent, are the only ones thus far who have said definitely that they are running.
Gorham police arrested Stanley Taylor Jr., 22, of 75 Shaws Mill
Road, early Monday morning after an armed standoff. Police, Fire and Rescue personnel braved below zero temperatures for three hours, until Reserve Officer Rick Remick captured Taylor as he attempted to escape via the woods. As it turned out, Taylor had been sleeping in a doghouse with his dog. Rita Taylor, the man’s mother, called police at 9:42 p.m., according to police reports. She told police dispatcher Jack Snow her son had gone outside with three of his guns, a 16-gauge shotgun, .30-.30 rifles, and one other unidentified rifle. Taylor allegedly had a dispute with a neighbor and fired a single
shot into the air.
Westbrook police notes: An alarm sounded in the rear building at Ziebart Tidy Car, at 2:45 p.m. on a Sunday. Water was coming out of a light fixture. The Fire Department handled it.
At 6:30 a.m., a woman said three horses were in front of her car at 159 Bridgton Road, headed toward the Bella Villa apartments. They belonged to Mr. Graffam, Reed Street. At 9 a.m. on a Saturday, water was coming out of the house at
19 Alberta Drive. The Fire Department had to force their way in. Shop ‘n Save caught a Virginia man shoplifting and found he was driving a pickup truck stolen in New Hampshire with plates stolen in Virginia.
Arnold Gaudet Jr. asked the Westbrook School Committee to name Westbrook’s Junior High for Fred C. Wescott, the mayor, and mayor-elect who died Dec. 29. Gaudet was School Committee chairman all through Wescott’s four
years as mayor.
Westbrook has a new acting mayor – Alderman-at-large Paul LeConte. Kenneth Lefebvre, president of the City Council and acting mayor since the death of Mayor Fred Wescott, left for St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands Sunday evening and won’t be back until Saturday. Lefebvre picked LeConte to serve in his place while he’s gone.
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