50 Years Ago
- The Northampton Housing Authority last night hired Richard Powell as a bilingual social worker to help families who live at the Hampshire Heights and Florence Heights projects. Powell, who will be paid $8,500 a year, recently returned from Brazil where he spent four years teaching and doing social work.
- One hundred and fifty Easthampton residents agreed last night to withhold their property taxes until the odor problem at the Ferry Street sewage treatment plant is solved. The crowd appeared dissatisfied with explanations from Tighe and Bond’s chief engineer that his company is doing all it can to find the source of the odor.
25 Years Ago
- As the Three-County Fair enters its 184th year, officials hope to boost attendance with new amusement rides and food vendors in the midway, the addition of simulcast betting at the track, and fireworks on Labor Day. Fair organizers decided to add simulcasting as part of an ongoing effort to reverse a steady decline in attendance and betting handles.
- Students from Cape Town, South Africa, will visit Amherst in January on a new exchange program with Amherst Regional High School. Stephen Myers, the new principal at Amherst Regional High School, is brining from Colorado his long-standing exchange with two schools in Cape Town.
10 Years Ago
- In an ongoing effort to curb tobacco use by youth, Northampton is mulling the idea of joining more than 130 Massachusetts towns and cities in raising the age to purchase tobacco products to 21. The current age limit is 18 and over. The move would be similar to one approved by the state Senate earlier this spring, though that bill has yet to pass the House.
- The Northampton Police Department is asking drivers to stay away from a traffic-heavy construction site where a roundabout is being built at Pleasant and Conz streets not far from exit 18 on Interstate 91. Construction on the new roundabout has resulted in lengthy traffic backups this week.