Jim Bridgman

50 Years Ago

  • A line of candidates and potential candidates has begun to form for the $14,800-a-year job of Northampton City Clerk, which became vacant with the death of City Clerk James E. Faulkner two weeks ago. Asst. City Clerk Adeline B. Murray is considered likely to get the nod when the City Council meets Nov. 18 to elect an acting city clerk to serve out the remainder of Faulkner’s term, which ends in 1977.
  • Silky’s, a new fish shop run by Robert Lavigne of Chesterfield, has opened at 52 Maple Street in Florence. The shop’s name is derived from an old Scottish ballad “The grey selchie of Sule Skerrie,” that was later used by folk singer Joan Baez in a song about a “silky.”

25 Years Ago

  • M. Francisco Palomo, who lost by five votes a bid for a third term to the Northampton school committee in Tuesday’s election, said today he is undecided on whether to request a recount. Palomo, 49, was defeated by Stephen Gilson, a political newcomer who waged an old-fashioned door-to-door campaign for the Ward 3 School Committee seat.
  • Yoko Kato, a Northampton shopkeeper and a board member of the YWCA of Western Massachusetts, will receive the Rev. Cheng Imm Tan Award for Personal Courage at the Eighth Annual Silk Road Gala in Boston Saturday. Kato was chosen for her contributions to social justice and opportunity for Asian women and her demonstrated courage in the face of obstacles.

10 Years Ago

  • City and town clerks in Hampshire County agree that the state’s first-ever early voting program was a success, with some communities reporting turnout as high as 36 percent. But the effort wasn’t without its problems. Long lines kept voters in some communities waiting, while the additional workload led one clerk to say it was as if her town was running two elections.
  • A significant project that will bring up to 140 new residents — and possibly high-paying jobs — to downtown Amherst took its most visible step Monday with the beginning of a full-scale demolition of the Amherst Carriage Shops to make way for a new five-story development called One East Pleasant.