50 Years Ago
- A former two-term mayor of Bristol, Conn., has been chosen to serve as the first marketing director for the Northampton Industrial Park. Walter J. Murphy was selected from among approximately 65 applicants to fill the $15,000-a-year temporary post.
- U.S. Marine Christopher P. Powers, 18, son of Mr. and Mrs. Louie H. Guerrin of 15 Orchard St., has completed basic training at Parris Island, N.C. His parents joined him for three days during graduation before he returned for eight weeks of infantry combat training at Camp Geiger, N.C.
25 Years Ago
- Jane Riggins, a clerk at the Florence Post Office, is retiring Friday after 30 years with the U.S. Postal Service. She spends much of her time sorting the mail, but she is also known for feeding the neighborhood dogs.
- If the City Council gives it backing, patrons at Fire & Water Cafe, a vegetarian restaurant on Old South Street, may find themselves dining outside this summer. A five-year-old plan to use a section of sidewalk for a patio in front of Fire & Water Cafe got a push forward this month when the Board of Public Works voted 3-2 to recommend “discontinuing” the sidewalk.
10 Years Ago
- State officials said Thursday they will grant Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School temporary relief from a new state law significantly impacting its chargeable tuition. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is granting the waiver because a majority of the school’s population is uniquely composed of out-of-district students.
- The American Lung Association has once again given Hampshire County a failing grade in its annual “State of the Air” report card, a familiar mark that results when pollution hitches a ride in the air stream from the west. Hampshire and Hampden counties both earned an F, while there was not enough data to rate Franklin County’s air quality.