Jim Bridgman

50 Years Ago

  • Edward J. O’Dea, 63, of 70 Prospect St., retired Superior Court chief probation officer and former managing editor of the Gazette, died last night in The Cooley Dickinson Hospital. On May 10, 1942, O’Dea was named city editor at the Gazette and later became managing editor. It was the appeal of helping people which lured him to probation work and away from a career as a newspaperman in 1969.
  • The Trustees of the Academy of Music held a little party yesterday to celebrate the imminent return of live theater and entertainment to the 86-year-old Main Street building, which has spent its last few years as a movie house. Theater director Duane Robinson said that the Academy plans to have its grand reopening Oct. 1 with a concert featuring a local orchestra and a one act play performed by area actors.

25 Years Ago

  • A couple taking a stroll on the grounds of the former Northampton State Hospital this weekend got a nasty surprise when they noticed what looked like a dead body in one of the building’s windows. The “body” turned out to be a bunch of pillows, dressed in clothing and covered with fake blood, police said.
  • A Florence woman starts her job as the city’s new public health nurse today. Following a unanimous vote by the Board of Health last week, Patricia Abbott was named to the part-time position. Peter McErlain, the city’s health agent, said Wednesday that Abbott, of 58 Lilly St., is a registered nurse with more than 30 years of experience in nursing, nursing administration and instruction.

10 Years Ago

  • A President Obama task force charged with helping make police departments more transparent and trustworthy is leaning on the expertise of the Northampton Police Department. Northampton Police Chief Jody Kasper and Capt. John Cartledge visited the White House Tuesday to give a presentation about their department’s unique approached to a police transparency initiative.
  • A proposed project to build a roundabout on the Northampton side of the Coolidge Bridge is making progress, but some are wary of the gridlock the construction will create and question whether the project is needed. Scheduled to begin in 2018, the project would create a two-lane roundabout, additional bike and walking paths and improvements to the turning lane onto I-91 south.