Jim Bridgman

50 Years Ago

  • A consultant hired to study alternatives to razing the Alumnae Gymnasium at Smith College says that the late Victorian building should be preserved and adapted to provide the college with the additional library space it says it needs.
  • Florence Lockshin of Baker Hill in Bay State recently received a standing ovation from an audience in Caracas, Venezuela, when her composition “Fantasy on a Negro Folk Song” was presented by the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra as a part of Venezuela’s contribution to the Bicentennial celebration of the United States.

25 Years Ago

  • The group that filed a lawsuit seeking to make marriage legal for gay and lesbian couples in the state is now asking a Suffolk Superior Court Judge to decide the issue. Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, known as GLAD, filed a motion for summary judgement recently asserting that no facts are in dispute. The motion claims that there is no triable issue, and the dispute is a matter of law; hence, a judge should rule on the issue.
  • About 40 demonstrators Saturday staged a protest over the delay in setting an election date to fill the First Hampshire District seat vacated when former state representative William Nagle resigned to take a post as clerk magistrate of Ware District Court. Paki Wieland, who intends to run for the seat as a Green Party candidate, tossed a box of tea into the Connecticut River from a dock in Northampton during the “No Taxation without Representation” rally.

10 Years Ago

  • About 75 pro-Hillary Clinton dignitaries and volunteers gathered at JFK Middle School on Thursday to rally for the home stretch of the reelection season. Speakers urged listeners not to get too comfortable in the Northampton-area bubble, a liberal enclave in a reliable blue state.
  • Northampton police are investigating graffiti directed at “radical Islam” along the bike path in the area of Brewster Court. The message was etched in chalk on a cement ledge that lines the path. Police Chief Jody Kasper said authorities responded to the report of graffiti about 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday.