50 Years Ago
- One of Northampton’s more colorful public figures and a man known throughout City Hall for his sense of humor, City Clerk James E. Faulkner died today after collapsing in his office at 10:30 a.m. Faulkner was a large man with a cheery pink face, an impish grin and twinkling eyes. For 17 years he held the post of city clerk.
- A former city councilor was struck by a car and killed as he attempted to cross Bridge Street Saturday evening at 7:15. Raymond L. Olander, 55, an employee of the Veterans Administration Hospital, represented Ward 3 on the City Council from 1948-1949. The brother of former Mayor Edwin L. Olander, he was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for city clerk in 1958.
25 Years Ago
- The number of Americans taking anthrax-fighting antibiotics at the government’s urging neared 10,000, while inspectors found more of the deadly bacterium in a Senate office building. The Postal Service prepared to issue masks and gloves for its 800,000 employees and was testing ways to sterilize the nation’s mail.
- Jack and Shelley Blais, who learned of the help given by the University of Massachusetts Medical School to a friend’s terminally ill daughter, have donated $21 million to a new research facility on the Worcester campus. It is the largest single gift in the history of the University of Massachusetts.
10 Years Ago
- Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz plans to install panic buttons in City Hall and adjacent city buildings to protect staffers from potentially dangerous visitors. About twice a year, Narkewicz said, a confrontation in City Hall requires help from law enforcement.
- The Environmental League of Massachusetts Action Fund has recognized state Rep. Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington, for achieving a perfect score on the organization’s 2015-2016 legislative scorecard on the environment. “I have always made the environment and energy issues a priority in my work in the Legislature and I will continue to do so,” Kulik said last week.