By JIM BRIDGMAN
■Jonathan L. (Jay) Healy of Charlemont today announced he would seek re-election as representative from the First Franklin District. During his first term in the state legislature, Healy has served on the special committee on needs of the Connecticut River Valley. He was also appointed chairman of the GOP Task Force on Criminal Justice and Prisons.
■Mrs. Ethel Cook Eliot, well-known Northampton author, died Friday at Cooley Dickinson Hospital. Mrs. Eliot was the author of some 17 books, many of them written for children. She began writing short stories in 1915 and had her first story published in Storyteller’s magazine.
■Rachel Kuc, 17, of Belchertown, wants to belly dance along stretches of the sidewalk in Northampton that are the downtown stages for musicians, magicians and mimes. But she has been told by police, who have final say on city sidewalk entertainment permits, that her shimmying could cause enough distraction to stop cars and pedestrian traffic.
■A retired publisher of scholarly journals will run for Ward 3 City Councilor in this November’s election. Patrick Gregory, 65, of 36 Butler Place, took out nomination papers on Tuesday, the first step in his bid against incumbent Maria F. Tymoczko.
■Michael F. Curtin went missing on a bombing mission over Germany during World War II. Now, nearly 70 years later, a large oil painting of the city native and U.S. Air force veteran is nowhere to be found at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8006, which bears his name. After a thorough search of the post at 16 Meadow St. in Florence, members reported the painting stolen on Memorial Day.
■Gov. Deval Patrick described the largest conservation deal in state history as a “generational responsibility” during a dedication ceremony in Leverett Tuesday. The event culminated four years of negotiations to preserve nearly 3,500 acres of forest in Leverett and Shutesbury. The land has been purchased for $8.8 million from W.D. Cowls Inc., the North Amherst lumber company.