A Look Back, Dec. 11

50 Years Ago

• Northampton has been awarded a $2,000 state Bicentennial grant for improving the Pines Theater at Look Memorial Park for an outdoor historical drama planned for the park this summer. The grant was made to the city for the Daniel Shays Project, a community theatrical organization which plans to produce at Look Park what it says will be New England’s first outdoor historical drama.
• Northampton School Supt. John Buteau has issued a directive at the request of the school committee, calling for normal holiday observations in the city’s schools, but asking that specific religious references be excluded from school functions. Some parents complained recently that Christmas parties and celebrations in school may discriminate against students who do not observe Christmas because of their religion.

25 Years Ago

• As a result of budget cuts, the Pioneer Valley Bookmobile has stopped serving Amherst, Belchertown and Florence, leaving librarians to try to fill in the gaps. “We have very disappointed people and a lot of empty shelves,” said Maggie Spiegel, librarian at the North Amherst library.
• Citing it as an example of wasteful government spending, the Libertarian Party’s national spokesman declared pork a proposed $400,000 in federal funds earmarked for the Dr. Seuss National Memorial in Springfield. “As you may now deduce, we’d vote no on Dr. Seuss,” the Libertarians rhymed in a press released denouncing the project.

10 Years Ago

• Pepin Elementary School in Easthampton was one of 45 schools commended by the state for narrowing proficiency gaps last year, an announcement that came Wednesday as the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released school and district accountability and assistance levels.
• Smith College junior Alyn Johnson-Kurts interrupted Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin at the Paris climate talks on Wednesday to protest a pipeline that would carry fracked natural gas through her home state. The governor responded by telling her to mind her manners and “run along back to Smith.”

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