Jim Bridgman

50 Years Ago

  • Some 120 tenants will move into the $5 million state-funded seven-story elderly housing project on Conz Street by Oct. 1, according to George OÕBrien, chairman of the Northampton Housing Authority. Tenants were chosen on a first come, first served basis from about 400 applicants.
  • Mayor Sean M. Dunphy has been nominated to the post of chairman of the state Appellate Tax Board, an aide to Gov. Michael S. Dukakis said today. The mayor said that he is not sure how long it will take for him to be confirmed in the new job or when it will start. If he must assume his new duties before his term expires at the end of the year, he will hand over the mayoralty to City Council President Robert R. Patenaude.

25 Years Ago

  • A $100,000 project to fix crosswalks along Elm Street to make them safer for pedestrians is now under way. Officials hope the project will alert drivers to the crosswalks with more elaborate markings and will make crossing the street safer.
  • The nine activists arrested earlier this summer after participating in a protest against the death penalty that blocked the Main Street intersection must spend 20 hours working on civil rights issues, a judge ordered Thursday. The protesters, members of a group called the Western Massachusetts Resistance Coalition, submitted to facts sufficient to warrant a guilty finding on charges of disorderly conduct.

10 Years Ago

  • More than two-thirds of the workers at Hotel Northampton want to unionize — and on Tuesday night they marched through downtown to deliver that message to hotel management. The hotel workers, including servers, cooks, housekeepers and maintenance staff, have been organizing over the last year with the help of the New England Joint Board, Unite Here.
  • The DAR State Forest will close to the public for the season Tuesday while repairs are made to the dam on Highland Lake. The price tag for the project, which includes both engineering and construction, is $2.55 million. “The entire park will be closed to everybody,” said Goshen Conservation Commission member Norene Roberts.