Jim Bridgman

50 Years Ago

  • Northampton is without a personnel department today as a result of a dispute over the hiring of an assistant city personnel director. Roger Turgeon, who was recently appointed to the new position of city personnel director, was supposed to begin work today but did not show up. Turgeon said that he would not report for work until the question of the assistant director’s post is settled.
  • A door found slightly ajar yesterday morning at the Hampshire County Courthouse and the recent series of bombings in New England prompted a search of the building by law enforcement officers. Nothing out of the ordinary was found, and it was later learned that a janitor paying an early morning visit to the building had left the door open.

25 Years Ago

  • Daring to mess with success, organizers of the ever-popular summer culinary weekend, commonly known simply as The Taste, are tinkering with its formula and its name. The Taste of Northampton has been renamed the “11th Annual Taste, Northampton’s Food Festival.” The festival will also offer new hours, new food choices and new types of entertainment.
  • South Street residents upset about a growing number of speeders will meet again next week to see what they can do about it. Residents of South Street have seen more traffic since the Route 5 bridge across the Oxbow closed in May and drivers take Route 10 as an alternate route to and from Easthampton.

10 Years Ago

  • After more than 50 years of activism, social justice organizer Lois Ahrens has received her first award. Recognizing her tireless work, most recently on behalf of incarcerated people, the Massachusetts Teachers Association presented Ahrens with the Kathleen Roberts Creative Leadership Award June 17 at the 34th annual Human and Civil Rights Awards banquet in Waltham.
  • Amherst native Meng He appeared recently with rap superstar Snoop Dogg on the new “$100,000 Pyramid” in an episode set to air July 10. “When you’re there,” the 29-year-old Amherst expat recalled, “all that matters is the clue in front of you and the person in front of you.”