50 Years Ago
- Mayor Sean M. Dunphy today announced that he is endorsing the candidacy of David W. Cramer for mayor. Cramer worked in Dunphy’s previous election campaigns. Former state Rep. Edward McColgan also announced that he is backing Cramer for mayor.
- George Perry of 34 Ryan Road announced today that he will not enter the race for the Democratic nomination for the Ward 6 City Council seat. Perry, who was among four candidates who took out nomination papers for the seat, said that he has decided not to run because of his position as head of two financial organizations for St. Michael’s School.
25 Years Ago
- For 67 years, the Polish American Cafลฝ on Route 9 in Hadley has been a hub of the local Polish community. That is about to end. State highway officials plan to take the lot and raze the building in 2002, putting a turn lane in its place, as part of a project to widen Route 9.
- Some residents are doubtful that a new alternate-side-of-the-street parking experiment near Smith College will solve mounting irritation among those who say Smith students use their streets to warehouse their cars. Ward 2 City Councilor Frances C. Volkmann hopes they’ll give the plan a shot. “I regard this as an experiment and we won’t know the effects until we try it,” she said.
10 Years Ago
- At one time, whenever trans-individuals applied to change their gender on their birth certificates, they were required to hand over a document containing proof that they had undergone surgery. As of Aug. 1, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts enacted a decisive change in the law, stating that surgery is no longer a prerequisite.
- Congressman James McGovern, D-Worcester, kicked off a two-day western Massachusetts farm tour Monday, visiting the North Hadley Sugar Shack and Simple Gifts Farm in North Amherst, along with five others. “Agriculture is an important part of our economy and I’m interested in seeing farmers succeed,” McGovern, who sits on the House Agriculture Committee, said Monday.