Drinan to lead Friends of Warren Rec
Friends of the Warren Rec Area in Westbrook have hired Paul Drinan as its first executive director, the group announced last month.
The Friends group said in a press release that Drinan of Westbrook is the chair of the Westbrook Recreation and Conservation Commission, a mayoral appointed, volunteer committee. It also said Drinan is the former director of the Friends of Fort Gorges in Portland. The group said Drinan has “30 years in non-profit, organization development, specializing in public-private partnerships.”
Drinan said, “Initially, my role will be to help figure out how to make this friends group — and the city — work together to develop this space to whatever the community wants it to be.”
An outdoor swimming pool was removed from the Warren Rec Area in 2021 due to its condition and repair concerns.
Resident Phil Spiller founded the new Friends group. “Helping the city bring a water amenity back to the area is one of the primary objectives of the new Friends group,” Spiller said.
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A group co-founder, Deb Shangraw, said goal of the group is to engage many people to help make the community ideas become a reality in this area. “We hope to eventually see this a very vibrant, active space,” Shangraw said.
Challenges include safety and vandalism.
“I’ve been getting phone calls from parents about what their kids have been seeing here in this area about guns going off; those sorts of things,” the press release quoted Mayor David Morse.
The Warren Recreation Area will be a trial location for a new mobile surveillance unit that Westbrook Police recently obtained.
Rotarians to hear domestic violence speaker
Jenny Stasio, co-executive director of domestic violence awareness group Through These Doors, will speak when Westbrook-Gorham Rotary meets at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 14, at Westbrook Regional Vocational Center, 125 Stroudwater St., in Westbrook.
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The meeting is in recognition of October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. For more information, call Christine Johnson, Rotary secretary, at 797-3747.
Lions bottle drive
Westbrook Lions Club is holding a bottle drive from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 18, at the American Legion hall at 17 Dunn Street.
Community members can bring in bottles and cans to donate to the group in order to raise money.
50 years ago
The American Journal reported on Oct. 8, 1975, that a search was to get underway the following spring at Smiling Hill Farm to discover the burial site of Col. Thomas Westbrook, who died in debt on Feb. 11, 1744.
