A Look Back, April 4

50 Years Ago

■“Our goal is to waterproof every family in Hampshire County,” is the way Frank LaLiberte, executive director of the Hampshire Regional YMCA, describes the Y’s free learn-too-swim program set for the week of April 21. Using the most modern teaching techniques, the Y course enables most swimmers to swim safely 50 feet after five days.

■Construction has been stopped at two new homes on Spring Street in Florence because the Army Corps of Engineers has determined that the area is in a 100-year flood zone. Bradford Collins Associates Inc., of West Springfield, the builder of the homes, is expected to apply for a wetlands hearing with the Northampton Conservation Commission to learn if construction can continue on the site.

25 Years Ago

■The pool building at Look Park, closed since 1992, will be converted into a banquet hall able to entertain between 300 and 350 people, the park’s superintendent announced today. The project will cost an estimated $1 million and is expected to be completed by June 2001, the target date for the facility’s opening.

■Deerfield Academy officials say they have persuaded Jordan’s King Abdullah II, a 1980 graduate, to return to his alma mater as the Class of 2000’s commencement speaker May 28. David Pond, the school’s assistant headmaster for alumni affairs and development, said the school is working with Jordanian royal security and the U.S. Secret Service to prepare for Abdullah’s visit.

10 Years Ago

■By fall, all Northampton streetlights will be converted to energy-efficient, longer-lasting LED lights now that the City Council approved a request to borrow $700,000 for the job. “To me this is one of the best orders that I’ve seen,” said Ward 6 City Councilor Marianne LaBarge. “I think this is great and it’s going to generate a lot of savings for the city.”

■A search committee at the Northampton Housing Authority has narrowed its initial pool of 36 candidates to four as it seeks to hire the next executive director of the quasi-public agency, according to panel members. Meantime, Jonathan Hite, the housing authority’s longtime executive, said he remains on the job despite having announced plans to retire in February.