■The dispute over a Northampton patrolman’s refusal to shave a newly grown mustache was given a formal hearing in City Hall yesterday. Patrolman Jerry L. Otto was given a five-day suspension June 17 by Chief James J. Whalen for refusing to shave his upper lip. The chief contends that police departments are quasi-military organizations in which orders from superiors are to be followed first and questioned afterward.
■Irene David, marketing and credit analyst for the Northampton National Bank, has been named general chairman of the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce 1975 membership drive. Joining Mrs. David as co-chairmen will be Charles DeRose, co-publisher of the Daily Hampshire Gazette, and Charles Lyons, president of Lyons Insurance Agency.
■Northampton lost yet another landmark backstreet business in mid-June when the Tire Infirmary, which began as the Auto Infirmary in 1912, closed at 33 Walnut St. Owner Mike Chudy, who bought the business from John Charlebois Jr. a dozen years ago, is working these days to clean his stuff out of the place — a jumble of wooden buildings including one still topped with an elegant cupola.
■Northampton school leaders are hailing students’ upbeat results on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills as a better measure of ability than the much-debated MCAS tests. Northampton elementary and middle school students scored much higher on the Iowa tests, showing a mastery of both basic and advanced math, language and reading skills. Their results, by and large, outstripped national norms.
■The Northeast Energy Direct project proposed by the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. could represent pay dirt for unionized construction workers around western Massachusetts, say two representatives for the Holyoke-based union local representing laborers. Even though the estimated 3,000 jobs on the project would only be for about 18 months, the pipeline could lead to other gas-based industrial development that in turn would create other jobs, according to a local labor leader.
■After 48 years of service as a city employee, Melissa Lampron is retiring from her post as tax collector. Lampron began working in the city’s Department of Public Works water and sewer billing department in 1967 and has worked for the city for her entire career.