50 Years Ago
- Legislation knocking thousands of employable persons off welfare has been signed into law by Gov. Michael S. Dukakis in a major shift of state social policy. As a result, as many of 470 of the 622 people in Hampshire County now receiving general relief may be cut from the welfare rolls.
- Clark W. Blackburn, executive director of Children’s Aid and Family Service, has been appointed chairman of the special gifts division for the fall Hampshire United Way campaign. The announcement was made today by Patricia C. Olmsted, 1976 HUW general campaign chairman.
25 Years Ago
- The Northampton City Council last week approved the purchase of 15 acres of wilderness, home to moose, black bears and a rare species of mussels. The land will be added to the Fitzgeralad Lake Conservation Area.
- George W. Page, Jr., co-owner and manager of The Delaney House restaurant on Route 5 in Holyoke, has been elected to the Massachusetts Restaurant Association Board of Directors for a two-year term. Page has been a member of the association for the past 11 years and first served as director between 1992 and 1997.
10 Years Ago
- Plans are in place to restore the memorial to patients buried at the former state hospital grounds off Burts Pit Road. “We’re hopeful that it will be done this fall,” said Barbara Blumenthal, a member of the Northampton Historical Committee. The memorial’s mahogany bench was disassembled in late 2014 because it was rotting due to exposure to the elements.
- At the New England Treatment Access dispensary Thursday, over 100 people with a variety of ailments preregistered to buy medical marijuana, and also got a first look at the renovated space and the strict security in place. The NETA dispensary will be ready to sell products that can be inhaled, swallowed and even applied topically as soon as mid-September, said Norton Arbelaez, a standards and practices consultant for NETA.