WMTW reported on Westbrook Police's increased efforts to fine drivers who fail to stop for pedestrians in a crosswalk, an increase in vigilance this frequent pedestrian welcomes.
And WCSH was on the scene at Westbrook's memorial service to commemorate the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. (Blogger Tony Bessey was also on the scene and has a few photos from the event.)
- John C.L. Morgan
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Westbrook Politics: September 15- September 19, 2008
Westbrook Almanac: September 7- September 13, 2008
Week-to-Date:
High: 79F (September 7)
Low: 42F (September 11)
Precipitation: 2.23 inches
Previous Sunrise: 6:19a
Previous Sunset: 6:55a
Month-to-Date:
High: 88F (September 4)
Low: 42F (September 11)
Precipitation: 6.02 inches
Year-to-Date:
High: 88F (September 4)
Low: -5F (January 4)
Precipitation: 43.26 inches
Source: National Weather Service
- John C.L. Morgan
High: 79F (September 7)
Low: 42F (September 11)
Precipitation: 2.23 inches
Previous Sunrise: 6:19a
Previous Sunset: 6:55a
Month-to-Date:
High: 88F (September 4)
Low: 42F (September 11)
Precipitation: 6.02 inches
Year-to-Date:
High: 88F (September 4)
Low: -5F (January 4)
Precipitation: 43.26 inches
Source: National Weather Service
- John C.L. Morgan
Saturday, September 13, 2008
American Journal One-Liners
Gloria Noyes, a fifth-grade teacher at Congin School, was named the 2009 Maine Teacher of the Year.
Agreement between the City of Westbrook and Casella Waste Systems would bring a solid waste transfer station to County Road and a curbside recycling program to Westbrook residents.
City of Westbrook and its employees agree to a labor contract.
- John C.L. Morgan
Agreement between the City of Westbrook and Casella Waste Systems would bring a solid waste transfer station to County Road and a curbside recycling program to Westbrook residents.
City of Westbrook and its employees agree to a labor contract.
- John C.L. Morgan
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Did You Know?
Did you know the Sports Turf Managers Association (STMA) has named Westbrook High School's Olmsted Field the Field of the Year in the High School and Parks & Recreation division twice since 2000?
Indeed, the STMA considered Olmsted to be the best high school football field in America in 2000, and it named it the best high school soccer field in the country in 2003.
Named in honor of George Olmsted, a president of S.D. Warren who contributed $150,000 toward its original construction mid-1960s, the field was renovated in the late 1990s as part of an $800,000 facelift for the high school's athletic complex.
- John C.L. Morgan
Indeed, the STMA considered Olmsted to be the best high school football field in America in 2000, and it named it the best high school soccer field in the country in 2003.
Named in honor of George Olmsted, a president of S.D. Warren who contributed $150,000 toward its original construction mid-1960s, the field was renovated in the late 1990s as part of an $800,000 facelift for the high school's athletic complex.
- John C.L. Morgan
9/11 Memorial Scheduled for Tomorrow
A memorial service to remember the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 will take place at Riverbank Park tomorrow at 5:45p.
- John C.L. Morgan
- John C.L. Morgan
Noyes Named Teacher of the Year
Gloria Noyes, a fifth-grade teacher at Congin School, was named the 2009 Maine Teacher of the Year earlier today.
Noyes is the fourth Westbrook teacher to win the award since 2000.
(Update: WCSH has video from the event.)
- John C.L. Morgan
Noyes is the fourth Westbrook teacher to win the award since 2000.
(Update: WCSH has video from the event.)
- John C.L. Morgan
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
On Location: 19 Monroe Avenue
I.
"On television, the quarterback peers out into the distance within the narrowed frame of the midfield camera and for a moment everything seems possible; the viewer can't know if there's a wide-open man fifty yards deep or if there is nothing ahead but despair--four men crowding two receivers, who aren't even bothering to wave their arms. The drama of the game on TV lies in finding out."
- Adam Gopnik in his New Yorker essay entitled "The Unbeautiful Game."
There are four types of sports in America: Those that are enjoyable only on television, those that are enjoyable only when viewed live, those that can inspire enjoyment whether watched on the tube or with the naked eye, and those that are just not enjoyed, whether they are on TV or live.
Now, depending on your seats, baseball and basketball fall into the third category. Scenes from Fenway Park and the TDBanknorth Garden are equally splendid whether one is sitting on her couch here in Westbrook, Maine or in one of Fenway's cramped seats. Hockey, on the other hand, is a sport that must be experienced live to gain appreciation for its allure. As for soccer, well, despite my affection for the sport both live and televised, it is not well-regarded by many Americans, regardless of whether they're on their couches or in a stadium seat. So that leaves football, the sport that was made for television, even if the medium had not yet reached its maturity when the sport was founded.
Almost every autumn Sunday afternoon (or, as increasingly bleary-eyed Patriots fans know, Sunday or Monday night), my wife and I (and now Eleanor) make our weekly pilgrimmage to my parents' home on (sniff) Monroe Avenue to watch that week's Patriots game. The scene: A spread of food and beverages bountiful enough to almost always inspire a private promise to start dieting tomorrow (it will be Monday, after all); a fifty-two-inch television displaying the game; a computer monitor bearing the oft-updated stats for the clan's fantasy football league (more on that later); and a collection of Patriots paraphenelia that, besides showcasing the family's sporting allegiences, also inspires strange superstitions (one of my uncles has developed the nervous tic of repeatedly jabbing the top of a Tom Brady bobble-head doll with his finger whenever the doll's namesake faces a big third-down or a similarly sticky game situation). And, of course, there's also a constant din of conversation that, while largely consisting of friendly banter (read: biting harassment about everything going on in each other's lives), occasionally erupts into hollers for joy and high-fives all around or vulgarity-laced howls of disgust culminating with a hat chucked at the TV screen.
In other words, who needs Gillette Stadium when you've got (your address here)?
II.
If the iPod is the culprit for the triumph of the single over the album, fantasy football must be blamed for the dominion of the player over the team.
True story: During a Patriots game late last year, our usually rambunctious crew on Monroe Avenue was silent after Tom Brady delivered a strike to the endzone. The reason for the deafening silence? Identification of the receiver was delayed by poor camera angles, so everyone was forced to peer closely at the TV to figure out if the receiver was on their fantasy team. Moreover, the silence continued even after the receiver of the touchdown pass was identified because it was Jabar Gaffney, the one Patriots receiver not stocked on someone's fantasy team.
To be sure, our uncharacteristically quiet reaction was cultivated by a season in which Patriot touchdowns were plentiful and, therefore, ho-hum. But it can mostly be attributed to the fantasy football phenomenon that forces us to cheer for players even when they're playing against the Patriots, while also causing us to remain silent for a Patriots touchdown because the scoring player didn't generate any points for our fantasy teams.
- John C.L. Morgan
"On television, the quarterback peers out into the distance within the narrowed frame of the midfield camera and for a moment everything seems possible; the viewer can't know if there's a wide-open man fifty yards deep or if there is nothing ahead but despair--four men crowding two receivers, who aren't even bothering to wave their arms. The drama of the game on TV lies in finding out."
- Adam Gopnik in his New Yorker essay entitled "The Unbeautiful Game."
There are four types of sports in America: Those that are enjoyable only on television, those that are enjoyable only when viewed live, those that can inspire enjoyment whether watched on the tube or with the naked eye, and those that are just not enjoyed, whether they are on TV or live.
Now, depending on your seats, baseball and basketball fall into the third category. Scenes from Fenway Park and the TDBanknorth Garden are equally splendid whether one is sitting on her couch here in Westbrook, Maine or in one of Fenway's cramped seats. Hockey, on the other hand, is a sport that must be experienced live to gain appreciation for its allure. As for soccer, well, despite my affection for the sport both live and televised, it is not well-regarded by many Americans, regardless of whether they're on their couches or in a stadium seat. So that leaves football, the sport that was made for television, even if the medium had not yet reached its maturity when the sport was founded.
Almost every autumn Sunday afternoon (or, as increasingly bleary-eyed Patriots fans know, Sunday or Monday night), my wife and I (and now Eleanor) make our weekly pilgrimmage to my parents' home on (sniff) Monroe Avenue to watch that week's Patriots game. The scene: A spread of food and beverages bountiful enough to almost always inspire a private promise to start dieting tomorrow (it will be Monday, after all); a fifty-two-inch television displaying the game; a computer monitor bearing the oft-updated stats for the clan's fantasy football league (more on that later); and a collection of Patriots paraphenelia that, besides showcasing the family's sporting allegiences, also inspires strange superstitions (one of my uncles has developed the nervous tic of repeatedly jabbing the top of a Tom Brady bobble-head doll with his finger whenever the doll's namesake faces a big third-down or a similarly sticky game situation). And, of course, there's also a constant din of conversation that, while largely consisting of friendly banter (read: biting harassment about everything going on in each other's lives), occasionally erupts into hollers for joy and high-fives all around or vulgarity-laced howls of disgust culminating with a hat chucked at the TV screen.
In other words, who needs Gillette Stadium when you've got (your address here)?
II.
If the iPod is the culprit for the triumph of the single over the album, fantasy football must be blamed for the dominion of the player over the team.
True story: During a Patriots game late last year, our usually rambunctious crew on Monroe Avenue was silent after Tom Brady delivered a strike to the endzone. The reason for the deafening silence? Identification of the receiver was delayed by poor camera angles, so everyone was forced to peer closely at the TV to figure out if the receiver was on their fantasy team. Moreover, the silence continued even after the receiver of the touchdown pass was identified because it was Jabar Gaffney, the one Patriots receiver not stocked on someone's fantasy team.
To be sure, our uncharacteristically quiet reaction was cultivated by a season in which Patriot touchdowns were plentiful and, therefore, ho-hum. But it can mostly be attributed to the fantasy football phenomenon that forces us to cheer for players even when they're playing against the Patriots, while also causing us to remain silent for a Patriots touchdown because the scoring player didn't generate any points for our fantasy teams.
- John C.L. Morgan
Sign It
Westbrook's golden boy Rudy Vallee is the subject of a signature-collecting drive designed to affix the late crooner/actor's face to a commemorative stamp produced by the U.S. Postal Service.
There's a website devoted to the effort, and you can sign the petition in less than one minute here.
- John C.L. Morgan
Hat tip: Marian Peterson of the Walker Memorial Library.
There's a website devoted to the effort, and you can sign the petition in less than one minute here.
- John C.L. Morgan
Hat tip: Marian Peterson of the Walker Memorial Library.
Wanted
Via WMTW, Bustlin' Bill Baker's crew pounded the pavement Monday to round up about 11 people with arrest warrants attached to their names. The drive is part of an effort to arrest about 300 people with arrest warrants.
(Update: WCSH and the PPH also have a story on the sweep.)
- John C.L. Morgan
Hat Tip: Stacy Tucker-Stanley
(Update: WCSH and the PPH also have a story on the sweep.)
- John C.L. Morgan
Hat Tip: Stacy Tucker-Stanley
Monday, September 8, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Programming Note: Election '08
Beginning next Monday, I'll be profile the various candidates seeking to represent Westbrook in the Maine House of Representatives and the Maine Senate each week until Election Day on Tuesday, November 4. Below is the schedule I'm aiming for:
Mondays: House of Representatives, #125
Morrill, Bob (R)
Peoples, Ann (D)
Tuesdays: House of Representatives, #126
Crocker, Kevin (R)
Driscoll, Tim (D)
Wednesdays: Senate, #6
Bartlett, Phil (D)
Csoros, Phil (R)
Thursdays: Senate, #9
Brannigan, Joe (D)
McGee, Nick (R)
To find out who'd represent your particular swath of the city, click here ("SS" refers to the Senate seat, and "SR" refers to the House seat). And if you have a particular question you'd like me to ask the candidates, please e-mail me at riverbank_republic@yahoo.com.
- John C.L. Morgan
Mondays: House of Representatives, #125
Morrill, Bob (R)
Peoples, Ann (D)
Tuesdays: House of Representatives, #126
Crocker, Kevin (R)
Driscoll, Tim (D)
Wednesdays: Senate, #6
Bartlett, Phil (D)
Csoros, Phil (R)
Thursdays: Senate, #9
Brannigan, Joe (D)
McGee, Nick (R)
To find out who'd represent your particular swath of the city, click here ("SS" refers to the Senate seat, and "SR" refers to the House seat). And if you have a particular question you'd like me to ask the candidates, please e-mail me at riverbank_republic@yahoo.com.
- John C.L. Morgan
Westbrook Almanac: August 31-September 6, 2008
Week-to-Date:
High: 88F (September 4)
Low: 53F (September 3)
Precipitation: 3.79 inches
Previous Sunrise: 6:11a
Previous Sunset: 7:07p
Month-to-Date:
High: 88F (September 4)
Low: 53F (September 3)
Precipitation: 3.79 inches
Year-to-Date:
High: 88F (September 4)
Low: -5F (January 4)
Precipitation: 41.03 inches
Source: National Weather Service
- John C.L. Morgan
High: 88F (September 4)
Low: 53F (September 3)
Precipitation: 3.79 inches
Previous Sunrise: 6:11a
Previous Sunset: 7:07p
Month-to-Date:
High: 88F (September 4)
Low: 53F (September 3)
Precipitation: 3.79 inches
Year-to-Date:
High: 88F (September 4)
Low: -5F (January 4)
Precipitation: 41.03 inches
Source: National Weather Service
- John C.L. Morgan
Top 10 Local CDs: August 25-August 31, 2008
Here are the Top 10 Local CDs for the week of August 25-August 31, courtesy of the Portland Phoenix:
- The Wrecking, "A New Abolition"
- Dead Season, "When Everything's Lost..."
- Dead Season, "Rise"
- Jan Broberg Carter, "Swift Justice"
- Dominic and the Lucid, "Season of the Sun"
- As Fast As, "Destroy the Plastique Man"
- Bill Chinnock, "Badlands"
- Jerks of Grass, "Come on Home"
- Darien Brahms, "Number 4"
- Prospect Hill, "For the Lovers and the Haters and the Dead"
The list was compiled from Bull Moose Music.
- John C.L. Morgan
Swollen Presumpscot
Tony Bessey has posted a photo of Saccarappa Falls after the remnants of Hurricane Tropical Storm Hanna swept through Westbrook yesterday.
- John C.L. Morgan
- John C.L. Morgan
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Statehood in One Minute
Sharon Cummins does a great job packing some of the history of Maine statehood into a short article.
Though mostly written with Wells's longtime opposition to statehood in mind, the piece does a great job touching upon the underappreciated Coasting Law and the politics that surrounded Mainers' drive for independence. Just one quibble: Her explanation of "Brunswick Arithmetic" is too vague and undefined, so I'll have to brush up on my Ronald Banks to fully understand the controversy again.
Nevertheless, a must-read.
- John C.L. Morgan
Though mostly written with Wells's longtime opposition to statehood in mind, the piece does a great job touching upon the underappreciated Coasting Law and the politics that surrounded Mainers' drive for independence. Just one quibble: Her explanation of "Brunswick Arithmetic" is too vague and undefined, so I'll have to brush up on my Ronald Banks to fully understand the controversy again.
Nevertheless, a must-read.
- John C.L. Morgan
Friday, September 5, 2008
Subtle Signs of Fall
The signs of an expiring summer are delicately evident. Golden streaks melt across the pale blue sky, and my windows, though still open, must be shut soon to defend against the autumn chill now creeping into our nights and mornings. Speaking of open windows, Earl Cutter's play-by-play commentary of the Blue Blazes' opening football game rides the cool breeze from Olmsted Field to my living room.
Who needs a radio when you live within one-half mile of Olmsted Field?
- John C.L. Morgan
P.S. Portland just jumped out to a 7-0 lead. And Westbrook just returned the subsequent kickoff for a touchdown and added the extra point to make it 7-7.
Who needs a radio when you live within one-half mile of Olmsted Field?
- John C.L. Morgan
P.S. Portland just jumped out to a 7-0 lead. And Westbrook just returned the subsequent kickoff for a touchdown and added the extra point to make it 7-7.
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