In Our Opinion: A court's accounting

On Jan. 4, eight days after Northampton saw more than a dozen blazes set in less than two hours, Anthony Baye was charged with setting the fire that killed two city men and demolished their Fair Street home.

Bottomless pits: Potholes may plague area roads, but highway bosses say this year isn't as bad as prior years

Dark spots in the pavement where potholes are forming and homemade signs providing warnings about frost heaves have become part of the landscape of Shutesbury Road in Amherst this winter. The same story pervades other cities and towns in the Pioneer Valley. Yet despite the problems Garland and her neighbors have encountered, Amherst DPW Superintendent Guilford Mooring and other area road bosses say this winter could have been worse for potholes and taken more of a toll on roads.
--Agree? Disagree? Email us with your pothole locations or tales

Dr. Irving Heaps, beloved father, grandfather

West Caldwell, N.J. - Dr. Irving Heaps, 95, passed away on March 2, 2010, in the nursing care facility of the Crane's Mill Continuing Care Retirement Community - where he and his wife, the late Ruth (Rosin) Heaps, moved from their home of 45 years in Livingston, N.J., into an independent living apartment in 1998.

Keeping the interfaith

NORTHAMPTON - It is with great excitement that I learned that a group of religious leaders in Northampton is planning an interfaith worship service this spring focusing on "a faithful response to Haiti." I know this will be a lovely and moving service and I encourage everyone to mark their calendars (May 2 at 6:30 p.m., Helen Hills Hills Chapel) and attend.

Pothole possibilities

Gazette staff photographer Gordon Daniels is a longtime student of the pothole and has photographed them for decades for the newspaper. When potholes started to appear in Valley roads this winter, he decided to document them in a different way, by imagining how they might be used - and enjoyed - by children. That is, if the traffic would just go away.

Sheri Jernigan, loved people and laughter

AMHERST - Sheri Lynne Jernigan, 46, died March 6, 2010, at home.

Judith Maxwell, longtime hospital worker

SPRINGFIELD - Judith Anne Maxwell passed away on Monday March 9, 2010, at her home in Brandon, Fla.

Judy was born in Springfield, the daughter of Frances Joseph Carney and Grace (McNabb) Carney. Judith graduated from Cathedral High School. She worked at the Holyoke Hospital for 25 years and then retired to Florida. She then worked for Dr. Wyley's Dermatology in South Tampa, Fla.