■Atty. William Stringfellow, a Northampton native and prominent lay theologian, will preach this Sunday at Smith College. It was at Stringfellow’s home on Block Island, R.I., that Father Daniel Berrigan, S.J., was taken into custody by the FBI on Aug. 11, thus ending four months as, in his words, “a fugitive from injustice.”
■Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Berniche of 5 Audubon Rd., Leeds, have received word that their son, P. Sgt. Joseph A. Berniche is recuperating in a hospital in Xuan Loc, South Vietnam, from malaria. After hospital treatment he will be flown to Cam Ranh Bay for a ten-day rest period. Sgt. Berniche is with the bravo Troop, 11th Armored Regiment, U.S. Army.
■Some patrons of the Hotel Northampton left a little prank yesterday morning – an inert World War II grenade. The practice grenade was found when a hotel worker lifted the sheets from a bed in room 412 and the inert device fell on the floor, said Northampton police.
■Saying the stress of not knowing whether his job will exist past Dec. 31 has become too much, the business manager of the Smith Vocational Agricultural High School has announced his retirement. David Dec, 46, a 17-year member of the school staff, has said that his last day of work will be Oct. 27.
■Casino gambling is dead in the Legislature for now, but the issue will be back as early as February, state Sen. Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst, said Friday. Despite concerns about the social impact of legalized gambling, the realities of the state’s economy keep the issue alive, he told people attending the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual legislative breakfast at the Courtyard Marriott.
■A high-tech system to monitor traffic on Interstate 91 and alert drivers to delays and other problems is on track to be finished by the end of the year. Officials have announced that 34 closed-circuit TV cameras have been installed along the highway, stretching 55 miles from the Connecticut border to Vermont.