Westbrook Volunteer Recognized for Longtime Efforts

PPH:

A face in the crowd caught Lou Lampron's eye. So
did another and another. Familiar faces, but faces he didn't usually see at a
middle school basketball tournament late in March. "I knew something was up,"
said Lampron, who was becoming more uncomfortable by the minute. "I didn't know
exactly what."He was about to be hit with more affection and appreciation than
he wanted to handle last Friday night.Later he would say he didn't see it
coming. He had been too busy making sure the basketball tournament he started 20
years ago would complete its 11-day run without too many glitches.

- John C.L. Morgan

Parents Give Feedback at School Budget Forum

AJ:

Most of the discussions in the forum, which lasted
more than two hours, centered not on whether to close the school, but what the
reconfiguration of the city’s educational districts would mean for
fifth-graders, who would be thrust into the middle school with much older kids.
"We know they're very different children, with very different needs," School
Superintendent Marc Gousse said.

- John C.L. Morgan

School Officials to Host Open Forum on Upcoming Budget

AJ:

As part of that, [Superintendent of Schools Marc]
Gousse said, the district is presenting a public forum on Thursday, Dec. 1, at
6:30 p.m. in the library at the Westbrook Middle School, inviting parents and
residents to hear what school officials are doing in the wake of the frantic
2011-2012 budget process, and to solicit opinions on how to proceed now.The new
budget won’t be a walk in the park. Gousse said early numbers indicate a
possible budget gap of $2.1 million to $2.3 million, which the district will
have make up in order to prevent that amount from being handed off to the public
to fund through higher taxes.

- John C.L. Morgan

Full disclosure: I teach at Westbrook High School.

WPD Undergo Hostage Exercises

PPH:

All police knew was that shots had been fired at the middle school. What they
didn’t know was that the shooter had a hostage on the second floor of the
building. The scenario was one of several played out Tuesday at Westbrook Middle
School, where the Westbrook Police Department is holding training sessions all
week. Officers from Westbrook and Gorham were invited to sign up for one of the
half-day sessions.

- John C.L. Morgan

Paper City Pub Crawl (Summer '11 Edition): A Reflection

(Editor's Note: About twenty of us Brookies and a handful of adopted Brookies participated in the summer 2011 edition of the Paper City Pub Crawl on Saturday, June 25. Sponsored by the Paper City Junto, a fledgling social civic club I'm organizing, the pub crawl began at Thatcher's at 6p, and continued to Stockhouse (7p), Skybox (8p), The Frog and Turtle (9p), and Profenno's (10p). Below are three thoughts.)

Yes, a Burnt Trailer tastes as awful as it sounds.

The night's gimmick was a poker crawl of sorts, complete with designated drinks and playing cards for a poker hand at the end of the night. At Thatcher's, for example, the drink was Shipyard's Summer Ale, ditto Gritty's Vacationland Summer Ale at Stockhouse. Skybox was home to the Remember the Maine, and The Frog and Turtle whipped up more Rudy Vallee (page 3) cocktails in one hour than they had in a year. The headliner of the night, though, was the Burnt Trailer nightcap served by Profenno's.

Now, I'm a big fan of Moxie, and I think it's every Mainers' duty to have at least one of the numerous best-selling bottles of Allen's Coffee-Flavored Brandy stashed in a cupboard for special occasions. After experiencing the awful splendor of a Burnt Trailer (equal parts Moxie and Allen's) at Profenno's, though, I recommend keeping those two beverages at least 25 feet from each other, per the One Percent Doctrine. Think liquified coffee grounds, and you'll have a good idea of what the cocktail tastes like.

Hey, at least we survived to tell the grandkids.

We were a mobile economic stimulus package.

When I wrote the high-minded mission statement for the Paper City Junto, I noted the loosely-organized group's effort "to enrich the cultural, economic, intellectual, political, and social landscapes" of Westbrook. I'm still figuring out how to live up to that sentence, but I am comfortable the crawl improved the economy of Westbrook--for at least one night.

When about 15 of us kicked off the crawl at Thatcher's at 6p, no one else was in the restaurant. When we left an hour later for Stockhouse, the place was still empty. The economic impact of our group wasn't as drastic at the other four stops, but we did our part in injecting money into the Westbrook economy that would've otherwise been absent.

"I'm doing snow angels in front of the church."

Ask some of the old-timers, and they'll spin stories about that character or this incident that mostly came about because that section of town was a place people hung around in long enough to marinate in its surroundings and its people. It seems today, though, Westbrook's downtown is a destination spot for small, private happenings, whether it's a solo walk on the Riverwalk or a meal with family at a restaurant.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it (I do after all need to tease something out of a bunch of us walking--and imbibing--from bar to bar), but the pub crawl was a uniquely collective happening, an event downtown that has a common narrative among 20 or so loosely-joined people.

And the fact that one of those narratives may involve a lost crawler, snow angels in the middle of the summer, and St. Anthony's church makes it that much richer.

- John C.L. Morgan

Middle School Students Attend to Veterans' Graves

AJ:

On Monday, as part of what is becoming an annual tradition, about 35 middle
school students listened to a presentation by [Deputy Public Services Director
Arty] Ledoux, who himself served as a U.S. Marine, about grave markers and their
significance for veterans and their families. Then, on Tuesday, the students
took to Woodlawn Cemetery, nearly across the street from the school on
Stroudwater Street, to attend to markers that had been bent, fallen over or
placed in the wrong position.

- John C.L. Morgan

Federal Funds to Save Some School Jobs

PPH:

The Westbrook School Department learned this week it will receive nearly
$600,000 in federal stimulus money, allowing the department to save 17 jobs that
had been targeted for elimination. Interim Superintendent Marc Gousse
recommended using the money to retain positions including four elementary school
teachers, four middle school teachers and a math and science teacher at the high
school. There are still 47 full- and part-time school employees who stand to
lose their jobs, Gousse said Thursday.

- John C.L. Morgan

School Department Could Shed Up to 73 Jobs

AJ:

The Westbrook School District could cut up to 73
faculty and staff positions in order to fill a $3.6 million budget gap for the
2011-2012 school year. Those numbers are the latest worst case scenario figures
coming from the Westbrook School Committee, which met Saturday to finish an
initial examination of the proposed $33.7 million budget. The committee has
scheduled a meeting for Wednesday, March 30, at 7 p.m. at the Westbrook Middle
School Performing Arts Center, where it will begin deciding what must be cut
from the budget.

(The PPH's story on the school budget caps the number of jobs cut at 53, but notes all middle school and frosh sports are on the chopping block.)

- John C.L. Morgan

Fred C. Wescott's Widow Laments Name Change

AJ:

The wife of Fred Wescott, the two-term Westbrook mayor who was the only one to
die in office, has taken the name change at 426 Bridge St. personally. It was
known as the Fred C. Wescott Junior High for nearly 17 years. But it became the
Westbrook Community Center after the new Westbrook Middle School opened on
Stroudwater Street last year.

- John C.L. Morgan

Gov. LePage to Host Town Hall Meeting in WPAC

AJ:

He will be at the Performing Arts Center at
Westbrook Middle School on Stroudwater Street from 6-7:30 p.m. Friday for a town
hall-style meeting. The public is invited to attend to ask questions of LePage.

- John C.L. Morgan

'Westbrook Idol' Auditions to be Held Today

AJ:

That means the competition begins with open
auditions, set for Saturday, Feb. 12 at 10 a.m. at the Performing Arts Center at
Westbrook Middle School. Ray said local channel 2 is filming the auditions,
which are open to anyone age 12 and up. Everyone from kids to adults who live or
work in Westbrook is welcome to give it a shot, he said.

- John C.L. Morgan

A Family Tradition of Reffing

AJ:

It’s not often that history is made at a middle school basketball game. But that
is exactly what happened last week when Katelyn Benson of Westbrook stepped on
the court to officiate a Westbrook Middle School basketball home game. It was
the 18-year-old’s first official game, making her the youngest female basketball
referee in Maine history, a moment she shared closely with the game’s other two
refs: her father Bob Benson Sr., and her brother, Robert Jr.

- John C.L. Morgan

On "Re:turn"

PPH:

[Artist Aaron] Stephan's project required nine months of hard labor. He grew a
tree in the atrium of the Westbrook Middle School. It's a gorgeous, leafless,
canopied representation of a tree from an old-growth forest. Stephan used lumber
reclaimed from the bowels of Moosehead Lake to make his tree, which measures
about 25 feet high and 16 feet wide, branch to branch.

- John C.L. Morgan

Related: Creator of Middle School's Public Art Among Maine's 'Most Exciting Artists' (July 26, 2010)

Visionaries Wanted, Take Two

AJ:

The task force reviewing Westbrook’s comprehensive plan wants to hear from you
on Saturday. The Westbrook Comprehensive Plan Task Force is in the midst of
reviewing the city’s comprehensive plan. State law requires this process occur
every 10 years, according to Molly Just, city planner. The task force has
already held numerous public meetings, and Saturday’s "Visioning Day" represents
another opportunity for the public to have a say in the direction of the city
for the next decade.

This event is the culminating experience for the first phase of the Comprehensive Plan Task Force's job, and it is a great opportunity for Westbrook folk to get together to discuss how the direction of the city over the next ten years. It begins at 10a and will include neighborhood-based discussions, topic-based discussions, and (free!) lunch for participants. It'll take place in the Westbrook Middle School cafeteria.

- John C.L. Morgan

(Full disclosure: I'm a member of the task force.)

Westbrook Politics: November 29- December 3, 2010

Thursday, December 2
Comprehensive Plan Task Force meeting
Westbrook Middle School
7a

- John C.L. Morgan

WPD Officer and Middle School Teacher Win 'Dancing with the Staff'

WMTW:

Teachers and staff member at Westbrook High
School put on their dancing shoes Thursday evening for Dancing with the Staff.
Hundreds of people packed the Westbrook Performing Arts Center for the event,
which is based on the hit ABC show "Dancing with the Stars." Dancing with the
Staff is a fundraiser for Westbrook High School's senior class and it appears to
be a very successful one.

Fortunately, there's no television evidence of my, er, contribution to the event which was supposed to look like this, but probably looked more like this or this. Now if I could only get my hands on all those DVDs being sold in the lobby...

- John C.L. Morgan

School Board: Greece Too Dangerous for Middle School Students

AJ:

Westbrook’s School Committee has determined that Greece is too dangerous a
locale for an upcoming student trip. A group of Westbrook Middle School students
hoped to spend April vacation marveling at ancient Greek architecture, but will
settle for Spain after the school committee denied the trip
request. Seventh-grade teachers Sarah Bouchard and Steve Moulen brought a
proposal to the committee meeting on Nov. 3 requesting permission to bring 11
students on a trip to Italy and Greece during April vacation in 2011. However,
committee members voiced disapproval, worrying that anti-American sentiment
could place the students in danger.

- John C.L. Morgan

Election '10: Westbrook Students Participate in Mock Election

WMTW:

Students from more than 150 schools in Maine cast ballots Thursday in a
statewide mock election. Organizers, including officials from the Maine
Secretary of State's Office, said the election is an important lesson for
students, and helps democracy in the state. The students said they enjoyed the
process. "It's a lot of fun," said Nicole Labbe, an eighth-grade student and
Westbrook Middle School. "I think it's definitely going to help prepare the kids
for when they have to actually vote."

I had a pre-election post in October 2008 about how Maine students' mock elections are pretty accurate forecasts of real election results. Indeed, considering the 2008 election results into my previously-crunched numbers (again, see my October 2008 post), Maine students have not only picked the eventual winner in 83% of the presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial races in which there's been a statewide mock vote (15 of 18), but they have also been within 5 percentage points of the winner's eventual vote total 80% of the time (12 of the 15 races they picked correctly).

In 2008, 58% of actual Maine voters voted for then-Sen. Barack Obama, whereas 61% of Maine students did. Sixty-one percent of actual voters voted for Sen. Susan Collins, compared to 58% of students; and 67% of actual voters chose Rep. Michael Michaud, compared to 62% of student voters. The outlier in 2008 was Chellie Pingree, who captured 55% of the actual vote, despite narrowly losing the student vote to her opponent, Charlie Summers.

The irony is that the one candidate whose campaign touted this Web site's look at the mock elections was, you guessed it, Charlie Summers.

- John C.L. Morgan

Election '10: Jeff Martin on the Issues

Republican Jeff Martin is running against incumbent Democratic State Senator Joe Brannigan for the District 9 seat in the Maine Senate. Martin, who resides in Portland with his wife, Kirsten, and their two children, owns Foreside Real Estate Management. His political experience includes a stint on the Maine Legislative Action Committee for the Condo Association Institute (CAI). You can see if Martin will be on your ballot on Tuesday, November 2 here.

What are your top three legislative priorities for the upcoming session?
Jobs and the economy, fiscal spending, and welfare reform.

How do you plan to implement each of these three goals?
It takes principled leadership to change the culture in any organization. I will stand by my principles that government should work for the people and not the other way around.

Which three state programs do you think should be maintained or expanded?
I think Envision Maine’s report Reinventing Maine Government is a great first step to where legislators should first look to reorganize Maine’s government. It highlighted a billion dollars worth of savings in Maine government.

Which three state programs do you think should be cut or eliminated?
See above.

Cite at least one example in which you cooperated with a member (or members) of another political party.
I successfully worked with former Democratic State Senator Michael Brennan in a stakeholders' group on developing a five-year vision for Portland schools. Our work produced 4 of the 5 adopted vision statements.

What are your thoughts concerning the state budget?
It is fiscally unsustainable. We can't continue to start the year with a $1 billion shortfall and expect that government can work properly. We need adults in Augusta that are not afraid to make the tough decisions so that we can keep the promises--like funding teachers and state pension obligations--that government has made.

What are your thoughts concerning the Clean Elections law in Maine?
This is my second time I have run as a "clean" candidate. Honestly, I think the term "clean" is a little disingenuous of a term as it has only shifted the "dirty" money voters who supported this law to want to reduce or eliminate it. I think "Maine Taxpayer Election Fund" is a much more transparent term.

What is your opponent's greatest strength?
I don’t know if it is his greatest strength, but my opponent has dedicated a lifetime of service to the community. His service is something I respect and admire, and I am honored to be his opponent.

What are your thoughts concerning the state's education (K-12, as well as higher education) policies?
We are close to the top in the nation on spending but our results don’t reflect that investment. Not enough of the money we spend on education is getting to the teachers and the classroom. That needs to be addressed. We also need to make higher education affordable. I support an optional fifth year of high school to give students an option to receive an associates degree or the first two years of a bachelors degree through the public education system.

What are your thoughts concerning same-sex marriage?
As a Senator, I will support same-sex marriage.

Cite at least one example in which you've differed with your political party.
I think the answer above is a good example.

What are your thoughts concerning the state's taxation system?
I think we desperately need tax reform. However, the last package was a jobs killer and was rightly defeated by Maine voters. The reality is that when an investor decides what states to invest in a couple percentage points in taxes can make or break the deal. And that results in lost jobs and lower overall tax revenue. I believe that we need fair reform that reduces the burden on the middle and lower class and stimulates investment in jobs.

What are your thoughts concerning term limits for legislators?
I have mixed feelings on this. While term limits didn't push any of the long-time fixtures in the hallways of Augusta toward retirement, I do believe that service in the legislature should be treated as a short-term public service and not a career.

What is your opponent's greatest shortcoming?
I think my opponent can best answer that question.

What are your thoughts concerning the state's transportation policies?
Transportation issues are part of the jobs and economy equation as we need a solid, reliable transportation infrastructure to get our goods to market quickly and cheaply. Transportation projects that show the highest potential to grow and support a local economy will get my support first.

What are your thoughts concerning the state's public assistance programs?
I think everyone agrees that a strong safety net is needed to help those that have fallen on difficult economic times. However, temporary public assistance should not turn into a long-term way of life. The current system undermines hard work and traps families in poverty. I support reforming the system to place emphasis on supporting a path to self-reliance and away from dependency.

- John C.L. Morgan

Related: Ann Peoples on the Issues (October 20, 2010)

Visionaries Wanted

The Comprehensive Plan Task Force kicks off its neighborhood meetings tonight, when it hosts residents and businesspeople from wards 5 and 1-2 (you can see which ward you belong to here) at the Westbrook Community Center at 7p.

The task force, which is amidst the six-month "visioning" portion of the state-required review of the City's Comprehensive Plan, will also be hosting neighborhood meetings for wards 4 and 1-1 (Thursday, October 28 at 6p at The French Press Eatery), and wards 2 and 3 (Thursday, November 4 at 6p at IDEXX). The culminating event for this initial phase will be a daylong, city-wide meeting devoted to conversations about everyone's vision of Westbrook over the next 10-20 years. That event will take place Saturday, December 11 at 10a in the Westbrook Middle School cafeteria.

These events are great opportunities for members of the public to articulate their perspectives on what Westbrook should be like as a place to make a home or build a business over the next couple decades. Moreover, the public is always welcome at the task force's meetings (a meeting schedule through May 2011 can be seen here), and is encouraged to fill out the task force's questionnaire (here).

(Full disclosure: I represent Ward 2 on the Comprehensive Plan Task Force.)

- John C.L. Morgan