■If the public really wants to control the pollution of the air, water and land, it will have to change its “life-style,” by decreasing the number of cars on the roads and the number of trips by those left; by new restrictions on land developers; and by fewer children per family. These were some of the conclusions of a colloquium held at the Stoneleigh-Burnham School this week.
■The Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Northampton recently donated a fork-lift truck to the Occupational and Vocational Development Center for the Handicapped, Inc., 42 Maple St., Florence. The fork-lift will be used to load and unload trucks delivering sub-contract work and will save a great deal of time and effort, as all material is now handled by hand.
■The sound of a buzzer or bell — designed to help visually impaired pedestrians cross the street — soon might be as common as the hum of passing traffic at two downtown intersections. Installation of audible signals is recommended in a “Downtown Access Plan,” proposed by the city’s Planning Department.
■Everybody’s Market, a business that has sold meats and produce in Florence center for 63 years, is expanding and soon plans to sell soft-serve ice cream and yogurt from a new street-front window. The store’s owner, Charles Jasinski, says he hopes the addition will help bring more foot traffic to downtown Florence.
■Europe began to emerge from a volcanic cloud Monday, allowing limited air-traffic to resume and giving hope to millions of travelers stranded around the world when ash chocked the jet age to a halt.
■The Hatfield School Committee has unanimously chosen Granby native John Robert as the district’s new superintendent of schools and director of student services. Robert was selected Saturday, after he and fellow finalist Kathleen Boyden took part in final public interviews at Smith Academy that morning.