■About 125 members of the Ladies Auxiliary to the Veterans of Foreign Wars throughout the state attended the open Department of Massachusetts meeting conducted by President Audrey Graziano and held at the Florence Civic Center Sunday afternoon.
■The beginning of the Christmas season appears to be a perilous time for employees of United Elastic Co., with the announcement of the closing of three more departments of the J.P. Stevens-owned plant coming almost a year after the decision to close the Glendale plant was disclosed on Dec. 2, 1970. The shift of these departments from Easthampton had been rumored since the Glendale plant closed last year.
■The Clarke School for the Deaf for the first time has opened satellite programs, including one in the Boston area, that are designed to expand its services. A new Center for Oral Education, a preschool and early-intervention program for deaf and hard-of-hearing children, is based at Lasell College in Newton.
■The former co-owner of Modrian, a women’s clothing store in Amherst, plans to open a contemporary men’s clothing store on Center Street in Northampton. The new store is called Dorset, and owner Michael Slifkin says he hopes it will be ready for business by mid-November.
■Just as police swept the Occupy Wall Street encampment from Zuccotti Park in New York City, the first tent of the Occupy Northampton movement went up on the front lawn of the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence last Tuesday afternoon. The Occupy Northampton movement and the Unitarian Society came to terms over the weekend for protesters to use the front lawn of the church at 220 Main St as an encampment.
■A group of city retailers has launched an effort to raise $20,000 to honor people who made significant contributions to the downtown. The group is commissioning a bronze sculpture that will be placed at an as-yet unchosen site downtown, according to Judith Fine, one of the retailers involved.