A Look Back, April 1

50 Years Ago

■Nancee Shifflett, a 14-year-old swimmer who sued the Massachusetts Secondary School Principals’ Association and the Amherst Regional School Committee, has been granted a three-year waiver from the MSPA which allows her to swim on the boys’ varsity team.

■A 150-foot central communications radio tower for all county fire departments is going up behind the Northampton Fire Department on Masonic Street. The tower will carry a new frequency to conduct fire department communications, although a system of communications already exists.

25 Years Ago

■“Hurricane Season” is the tentative title for an upcoming television movie based on Madeleine Blais’ bestseller about the 1993 championship girls’ basketball team at Amherst Regional High School. Stephen Moore, the writer’s Los Angeles agent, confirmed Thursday that ABC is planning to produce a Sunday night movie with Disney Studios.

■A Northampton woman is the first in western Massachusetts and one of a handful across the nation to lead an Elks lodge. Barbara Franklin, 48, of Hinckley Street, was elected in February to head the city’s lodge, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, Lodge No. 997.

10 Years Ago

■Elizabeth Barajas-Rom‡n, CEO of the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, Tuesday was named to a state advisory committee tasked with addressing the state’s wage gap for women. Women in Massachusetts earn just 82 cents on the dollar compared to men on average.

■Suzy Canter Kirsch of West Chesterfield has been named the new part-time director of the Council on Aging, succeeding Nancy Braxton who retired in February. Braxton, who served for over four years, said she plans to remain on the Chesterfield senior housing committee.