50 Years Ago
- A 38-year-old Connecticut city planner yesterday assumed his duties as the new executive director of the Hampshire Community Action Commission. Eugene A. Puhopek comes to Northampton from a position with the planning department of Enfield, Conn. to replace F. Austin Miller who left the job to become comptroller of the federal Housing Allowance Program in Springfield.
- The Vermont Store at 192 Main St. opened under new ownership yesterday. David A. and Marjorie A. Johnston of Rattle Hill Road, Southampton, bought the novelty shop on Friday from Neil A. Soutra, owner of Dwyers’ Florists, located two doors down from the Vermont Store, and his wife, Marion.
25 Years Ago
- With buttons commemorating Mental Retardation Awareness Month pinned to their lapels, Northampton city councilors listened as Mayor Clare Higgins read a proclamation honoring adults with developmental disabilities. Ward 6 City Council Marianne L. LaBarge organized the event, handing buttons out before the meeting.
- Downtown traffic was light and — for once — parking spaces were plentiful this morning as dozens of businesses and offices stayed closed in anticipation of predicted record-breaking blizzard-like conditions. Northampton municipal offices closed at noon, schools across the region were cancelled, and courthouses and libraries were closed.
10 Years Ago
- In an extraordinary display of Republican chaos, the party’s most recent presential nominees, Mitt Romney and John McCain, lambasted current front-runner Donald Trump on Thursday, calling him unfit for office and a danger for the nation and the GOP. “His is not the temperament of a stable, thoughtful leader,” Romney declared.
- Several a cappella groups are coming together at Smith College on Saturday in a benefit concert for the Hampshire County Friends of Homeless Individuals. It wants to buy a house in Northampton for unaccompanied homeless youths between 18 and 24, many of whom are becoming too old for foster care.