A Look Back, Aug. 27

50 Years Ago

■The first recipient of the Three County Fair youth scholarship of $500 is Brenda J. Kurz of O’Donnell Ter., Florence. Brenda, who had a display in the fair last year, is helping to recruit youth displays for the Three County Fair which opens Sunday at the Fairgrounds in Northampton.

■The death of aviator Charles A. Lindbergh yesterday struck a personal note for some Northampton residents, who remember his widow Anne Morrow Lindbergh, a Smith College graduate and infrequent visitor to this city since her marriage. On June 17, 1935, a crowd spilled onto the fields of LaFleur Airport to watch the Lindberghs take off in their black and orange monoscope airplane after Mrs. Lindbergh had come back to Smith to dedicate Morrow House, named for her mother.

25 Years Ago

■A lawyer who has represented indigent people accused of crimes in Hampshire and Franklin counties has accepted a job with the Federal Public Defender’s office in Boston. Public defender Timothy Watkins, 39, of Northampton, said he’s starting work at the new job Nov. 1.

■The seat-belt law that requires drivers and passengers to buckle up, doesn’t apply to adults who are riding in the backs of pickup trucks, said Robert Powers, acting highway safety officer for Northampton. “This is something that is not in the law. It’s an oversight,” Powers said.

10 Years Ago

■People holding pictures of Michael Brown held a vigil on the steps of Northampton City Hall on Monday evening. Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old black man, was shot by police Aug. 9 in Ferguson, Mo., a St. Louis suburb. The Northampton gathering was organized by the American Friends Service Committee, Northampton Quakers, and Amy Bookbinder.

■Nearly two months after the Northampton Business Improvement District re-upped through 2019, a long-anticipated civil lawsuit in Hampshire Superior Court began Monday that could have major implications for the BID’s immediate future. The suit alleges that the city used a flawed process that did not follow state law when it created the BID in late 2008.