Jim Bridgman

50 Years Ago

  • At least one Hampshire County woman will be able to pursue her goal of becoming an ordained Episcopal priest as a result of dramatic changes voted during the church’s current national convention in Minneapolis, Minn. Mrs. Mary Matthews of Amherst said that she will enroll in the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge. If she secures approval of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts, Mrs. Matthews could be ordained about 1980.
  • The Northampton School Committee voted unanimously yesterday to hire a new superintendent next spring or summer and to appoint a temporary school head after Supt. John M. Buteau retires on Dec. 31. The interim superintendent would not be a candidate for the permanent job, the board voted.

25 Years Ago

  • Smith College students were among college students nationwide who responded Thursday to a call put out by students from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., to turn out in large numbers to decry war. The message of the thousands of protesters was the same: nonviolent justice, not revenge in response to last week’s terrorist attacks.
  • An accreditation report on Northampton High School praises the school’s principal, teachers and guidance counselors but says their work is hampered by an inadequate budget. The 50-page report from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges precedes a letter expected in eight weeks stating that the 830-student school will be re-accredited.

10 Years Ago

  • Online contributors are rallying around a crowd-funding campaign to construct a downtown “parklet.” Planning and Sustainability Director Wayne Feiden created the crowdfunding page, which is already halfway toward reaching its $10,000 goal — half of the $20,000 needed to close Crackerbarrel Alley and turn it into a small park.
  • Larry Parnass, editor of the Daily Hampshire Gazette and Amherst Bulletin, will leave the papers in October to take a position with the Berkshire Eagle. Parnass has worked for the papers since 1988, when he was hired as the Gazette’s first regional editor.