■A rare example of an early chest is one on display at Forbes Library. Sometimes called a “Hadley Chest,” it was given to Forbes by Ella Cleveland Clark. According to Miss Clark the chest belonged to her grandfather, William Clark, one of the founding fathers of the settlement of Northampton.
■Officials at Westover Air Force base have confirmed for the first time persistent reports of B-52 and other aircraft being transferred from Westover to join in the air war over North and South Vietnam. According to several sources, at least a dozen B-52 and several hundred crewmen have been moved from Westover to Southeast Asia during the past two weeks.
■Members of the JFK Middle School Council voted this week to oppose having city schools join the state school “choice” program. Opposition was “vehement,” according to Principal Richard Carnes.
■A barred owl that had lived for six years at the Christenson Zoo at Look Memorial Park died last month, after falling ill to a pneumonia-like illness common in captive birds. A new barred owl has taken its place, in a specially designed wire enclosure along the zoo’s walking path. The owl has a permanent injury making it unfit to be released back into the wild.
■Northampton is once again in the vanguard when it comes to making its collective voice heard on issues of national importance. The City Council Thursday night unanimously passed a non-binding resolution called for a 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution to take away “personhood” status from corporations.
■All Amherst police officers will be on duty the next two weekends, many for double shifts, as they try to keep the lid on the public partying that often plagues the end of the semester. In addition, police are bracing for a large crowd downtown April 28 for Extravaganja, the annual rally put on by the University of Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition on the town Common.