A Look Back, March 20

50 Years Ago

• Northampton school administrators will consider purchasing school buildings in the city owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield. The property committee of the school committee asked the administration yesterday to determine the selling price of the buildings and whether they would be suitable as public schools if needed by the city
• Featured and supporting roles in the upcoming production of the drama, “When You Comin’ Back, Red Ryder?” by the Circle Players will be taken by a combination of old-timers and newcomers to the community theater’s roster of players. The prize-winning play, a lament for the lost American hero, will be presented for three performance this weekend at the People’s Institute.

25 Years Ago

• A long-awaited bike path that would connect the Norwottuck Rail Trail to the Northampton path is stalled because officials can’t seem to agree on how to get bike traffic safely across Damon Road. The Damon Road connector has been in the works now for nearly a decade and bicycle advocates say it is the “vital link” in the joining of three disconnected paths.
• Northampton School Superintendent Bruce Willard plans to propose district-wide cuts in staff and administration at a School Budget and Property Committee meeting Thursday. In addition, the heads of special education and school technology will propose cuts in their departments.

10 Years Ago

• Former owners and managers of the shuttered Route 9 Diner in Hadley will pay up to a $200,000 penalty for a decade-long pattern of sexual harassment of female employees, with a portion of this money serving as compensation for 10 victims who suffered physical harm, emotional distress and loss of tips and wages.
• The 12th Goshen Meltdown has come to its watery end, making this year a record-breaker for the annual charitable contest. Organizer Bob Labrie said that the 69-pound meltdown block dropped through the ice at 12:58 a.m., March 12, a week earlier than the previous record of March 19, 2012.

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