■For a group of about 50 people in Northampton, Earth Day, a nation-wide day of concern about the environment, began early this morning with a sunrise celebration in Childs Park. A sermon calling for a change from a man-oriented view of nature to a life-oriented view was delivered by Sanat K. Majumder, assistant professor of biology at Smith College.
■A number of area young men will be traveling to Washington Sunday as part of a state-wide effort to lobby for repeal of the military conscription law. According to Michael Pollard, one of the organizers of the action, the group will be meeting Monday morning with the national director of the Council to Repeal the Draft and with a representative of the American Friends Service Committee.
■Spread out along the banks of the pond in Look Park on Saturday were more than 200 young people, all of them angling for prizes in the sixth annual fishing derby. The Recreation Department had stocked the pond on Monday with about 300 fish, 10 of which were tagged, making the anglers who caught them each eligible for a $25 gift certificate.
■About three dumpsters filled with debris and 100 tires were removed from a ravine on state land off Burts Pit Road as part of Saturday’s Earth Day cleanup. The cleanup, done by some 75 volunteers, was organized by members of the farm program at the Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School.
■A panel of experts and area residents got together Thursday night to address bullying legislation that is being crafted to address it, and the far-reaching and long-term effect it has had on local schoolchildren — and adults who have dealt with abuse in the past. The forum was sponsored by radio station WHMP and the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
■The state’s much-touted appliance rebate program came crashing down Thursday morning, as residents eager to take advantage of a significant savings opportunity swamped a special website and telephone number. Thanks to more than a million calls in two hours, the website was inoperable and the phone line busy.