■The water in the pool at the Hampshire Regional YMCA was churning for 12 hours yesterday and the result was $5,306 raised for the Y in the first swim-a-thon held there. The big “swim of the century” matching Northampton High School Football Coach Frank Tudryn and Gazette Sports Editor Milt Cole drew a few extra people to the pool.
■Plans for a new 200-unit housing development for the elderly were announced at last night’s meeting of the Northampton Housing Authority. Architect Douglas Goodman of Rinehardt Associates of Springfield presented the conceptual lay-out of the T-shaped seven-story structure planned for Conz Street, with entrance on Smith Street.
■Ruth Barton has been named Hampshire County Business and Professional Women 1996-97 member of the year. Barton, retired secretary to the superintendent of Northampton schools, joined the BPW in 1970 and served three terms on the Scholarship Committee, 20 years on the Telephone Committee, and 10 years on the Nike News.
■Ruth Simmons, president of Smith College, has been elected to the board of directors of Pfizer Inc. Simmons, who became president of Smith in 1995, chairs the board of trustees of the Academy of Music and is a member of the board of trustees of The Clarke School for the Deaf.
■Organizers of the proposed Paulo Freire Social Justice Charter School in Holyoke will hold an information session about the school and its application process Saturday in Northampton. Founders expect the school will draw 60% of its eventual 500-student population from Holyoke and the remainder will come from Northampton, South Hadley, Chicopee, Westfield and Springfield.
■City Planner Stuart Beckley said he will spend the next few weeks tying up loose ends before he works his last day in Easthampton Feb. 3. Beckley will begin his new job as Ware’s town manager Feb. 6, earning an annual salary of $90,000 for a 40-hour workweek.