In Our Opinion: Questions on crackdown

Police raids this week in western Massachusetts targeting the sex trade, including alleged conduct at two businesses in Hadley, started with an informant's tip in July. Given that Hadley's town administrator tells the Gazette the businesses opened only months ago, this may go down as one of the swiftest crime crackdowns in Valley history.

How Clarence Hawkes, Hadley's 'blind poet,' found other ways to see

HADLEY - Clarence Hawkes was born in 1870 "up in Goshen," as the locals used to say, where an ancestor named Jared Hawks settled after the American Revolution (1775-1783) and married a daughter of one Col. Nehemiah May. At some point, one of Jared Hawk's descendants added an "e" to the family name.

American workers must be allowed to care for loved ones who get sick

I know what can happen to workers who can't stay home and care for themselves or a loved one without losing a job.

Feed frog, so it can help feed neighbors

To the editor:

The Happy Frog sculpture in front of First Churches on Main Street in Northampton is more than happy.

It is joyfully celebrating its first anniversary of providing funds to feed the hungry.

ACTV producer stumped by competing parade CDs

To the editor:#

Urges Valley Advocate to stop running escort ads

To the editor:

The Gazette writes of past suffering in its Oct. 26 editorial, "Slavery's unfinished story," but you can find present-day exploitation in the Gazette's sister publication - the Valley Advocate - and its massage/escort advertising section. Many of these ads appear to involve prostitution.

In Our Opinion: A bridge not too far

Tucked in amid all the reports of elections, local budgets and the economy this week was news that a campaign is well under way to replace the "Dream" mural on the railroad bridge over Northampton's Main Street. Generous gifts - some anonymous - and a community effort will keep public art at one of the city's gateways.