Aug. 3, 1994
Westbrook may become the first Maine community to license sellers of tobacco.The target would be the lucrative, but illegal, market among children under 18. An informal committee agreed Thursday to push for a city ordinance. A broad-based meeting in September is planned and tobacco retailers are invited.
Westbrook City Hall will be on short staff today so that workers can attend the funeral of Maureen J. Hubbard, 51, of Main Street, an employee of the city’s Finance Department. Hubbard was found dead in her car in the woods in a rural section of Denmark over the weekend by the Oxford County Sheriff’s Department. She died of carbon monoxide poisoning, according to Capt. James Miclon of the sheriff’s department. The funeral will be held at Blais Funeral Home, with burial at Woodlawn Cemetery.
Shirley Noyes Jordan, 34, of Whitehouse Court, Westbrook, was elected Monday by the Westbrook School Committee to fill the remaining year-and-a-half of the four-year term of Dorothy Melanson as Ward 1 member of the committee. Melanson had resigned. Jordan, daughter of ex-Alderman and Mrs. Malcolm Noyes, was the nominee of the Democratic City Committee. She graduated from Westbrook High School in 1978 and has worked most of the time since then for NYNEX, but recently was laid off. She has three children in the Westbrook school system. This is her first public office.
The Village Mall, Main Street in Gorham, has been sold to Jim Westcott and Mike Payson, an investment partnership from Falmouth. The 40,000-square-foot commercial center is home to Burger King, Ben Franklin, LaVerdiere’s Drug Store and Gorham Laundry Center. There is also a two-story office building with professional tenants. The mall is on a 5.5-acre lot. The former owner was the Amresco Co. of New Hampshire. No sale price was provided.
Mike Caiazzo, who will be a senior at Gorham High School, won the 2.8-mile adult cross-country race at Celebrate Gorham on July 9 with a time of 14 minutes and 9 seconds, only 4 seconds ahead of second-place finisher David Libby. Ruth Hall was the first woman to finish, at 18 minutes and 40 seconds. Second female finisher was Jackie Maurer at 19 minutes 10 seconds.
Aug. 4, 2004
With a 4-3 vote, the Westbrook City Council gave final approval Monday to a zoning change that will clear the way for large-scale retail development, possibly a super Walmart, at the 28-acre site of the Saunders Bros. mill. Prior to the vote, Councilor John O’Hara spoke vehemently against changing the zone to allow Walmart. “Walmart will have a field day with Westbrook and chew us up and spit us out,” he said. Josh Saunders, company president, said after the meeting that he thinks the zone change would be beneficial for the neighborhood and the city as a whole, even if the Walmart deal falls through. Anne Bureau, a member of Westbrook Our Home, which is opposed to the Walmart project, said she was disappointed with the council’s decision and is not sure yet what the group’s next step would be.
Spc. Tracy Jipson is home in Gorham on a two-week leave from Camp Marez in Mosul, Iraq, where she serves in Headquarters Support Company of the 133rd Engineering Battalion. It’s her first time home since January, and she won her two-week leave in a drawing. A 1998 Westbrook High School graduate, she’s the daughter of Phyllis and Lynn Savage of Gorham and Stephen S. Jipson of Kentucky.
Harold Bean Sr. keeps people on the road by pumping gas, and on the road of life by waving and offering a smile. For many, Bean is the first person they see early mornings when they pull into LeClerc’s Service Center on Main Street in Westbrook for a fill-up. Usually on the job by 5:30 a.m., Bean has been working for station owner Roger LeClerc for 14 years. July 14 marked Bean’s 80th birthday, and regular customer Cheryl Cuddy put up a sign at the station, “Happy 80th. Honk for Harold.” Many customers did honk, while the ladies gave flowers, cards, hugs, kisses and candy. Bean, a World War II veteran, retired from S.D. Warren after 20 years, and then retired from Central Maine Power after another 15 years. But he didn’t enjoy being idle.
A 19th-century drum from Westbrook that may have been drummed in battle during the Civil War was back home July 31. Civil War buff Hank Brown and his wife, Patti, donated the drum they bought earlier this year in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to the Westbrook Historical Society. Painted letters on the banner head of the bass drum say, “H. Bells. Flute Band, Westbrook, Maine.” Brown said the drum, made by John C. Haynes & CO. of Boston, is circa 1850.
From the Gorham Police Log: A caller on Mosher Road reported a cow walking up the road near the roundabout with Newell Street and Gray Road. A North Gorham Road resident reported she found two young birds in her hedge with their legs tied together. A Chestnut Circle resident reported a cat had bitten him. A Paige Road resident reported a white-and-brown pit bull was loose near the road.
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