A Look Back, Dec. 16

50 Years Ago

■Demonstrating students at Hampshire College, a phenomenon long absent from the valley, forced the adjournment Saturday of a semi-annual college board of trustees meeting. The 120 demonstrators said they want more student control in the trustees’ decisions, according to college President Charles Longsworth.

■Thieves entered through the front door of the Anderson-Little Co. Inc., clothing store on King Street early this morning and made off with an undetermined amount of cash. Kurt Blaha, manager of the store, said the thieves removed the lock from the front door and then forced open a safe. A cold chisel was left inside the store, and Blaha said some fingerprints were found.

25 Years Ago

■Four years after launching a fundraising campaign to build a statue of Sojourner Truth, a local committee is only months away from commissioning the sculpture of the former slave and feminist who lived in Florence from 1843 to 1856. Five sculptors have been chosen as finalists for the project to create the life-like statue of Truth proposed to be installed in a small park at the corner of Park and Pine streets.

■Repairs and improvements to the Academy of Music, inside and out, are expected to begin next year as part of a $2 million state-funded renovation of the building. “It’s a multi-pronged effort to sustain and enhance the Academy of Music,” Mayor Mary L. Ford said Tuesday.

10 Years Ago

■Drawing attention to what they see as a key battle in the fight against climate change, some 75 demonstrators Saturday rallied in front of the Hampshire County Courthouse to protest the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, calling on President Obama to oppose the project and veto any congressional effort to approve it. Rally organizer Marty Nathan said putting pressure on Obama is more important than ever, given the change to a Republican Senate in January.

■Burger King restaurant, a mainstay of the Route 9 dining scene since opening in the 1970s, will close later this month, possibly to make way for a new development project at the Mountain Farms Mall. The restaurant has lost lease of the property and is looking for a new site in Hadley to reopen.