■A 20-foot observation tower is under construction near the Arcadia Marsh in the Arcadia Wildlife Preseve. When completed, the tower will include a small observation shed and an easily ascended staircase.
■Birth control crusader William “Bill” Baird was ordered released from the Boston Charles Street jail yesterday after the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Massachusetts Birth Control law, prohibiting the dispensing of devices to unmarried persons, is unconstitutional. Locally, Dr. Robert Gage, president of the Hampshire District Medical Society, said of the ruling, “It’s a step ahead in recognizing that we can’t legislate morality.”
■A letter from Mayor Mary L. Ford challenging the safety record of Guilford Transportation Industries Inc. has provoked the company to halt plans for its proposed rail spur to the new Coca-Cola USA plant. The plant on Industrial Drive is expected to go on-line in the next several weeks, and the impact of the delay is uncertain.
■A Belchertown developer who has secured city permission to build a subdivision off Westhampton Road has been stalled temporarily because of state officials’ concerns about wetlands destruction. Todd G. Cellura is hoping to build Sovereign Meadows, which would stand near Loudville, a village close to the junction of Northampton, Easthampton and Westhampton.
■The state Department of Conservation and Recreation announced Tuesday that it would temporarily halt all new logging projects at the Quabbin Reservoir until a review of the reservoir’s forestry operations could be completed. The announcement follows months of contentious debate over logging on state lands and at the Quabbin in particular.
■Officials at the Amherst Survival Center will slowly transform a former restaurant into the place where they provide free meals and services to local families and individuals in need. The Survival Center recently closed on a deal to purchase the former Roosters restaurant building at 138 Sunderland Road.