A Look Back, April 10

50 Years Ago

■Several University of Massachusetts policemen will be riding high in the saddle come the end of June. A gift of three horses to the university has enabled the UMass police to go ahead with plans for a mounted police patrol. Only two other universities in the country, the University of Connecticut and Rutgers University, have horse patrols.

■Amherst voters yesterday returned incumbents Nancy B. Eddy and Michael Sullivan Jr. to their posts on the Board of Selectmen and reelected Robert F. Fischer to another three-year term on the School Committee. Maria E. Roberts was elected to the other three-year school committee term and Fredric L. Cheyette was successful in his bid for the two-year term.

25 Years Ago

■Three University of Massachusetts employees spent a harrowing few hours Thursday trapped by a brushfire that raged over hundreds of acres on Tekoa Mountain in Russell and Montgomery. A firefighter died of an apparent heart attack fighting the fire, which was still raging in some areas today.

■Northampton will continue to allow students from other communities to enroll in its schools, after the School Committee voted Thursday not to withdraw from the state program that allows such transfers. Moreover, the city is poised to double the number of seats open to students from other communities.

10 Years Ago

■Hadley School Board Chairwoman Molly Keegan received 403 votes in Tuesday’s election to become the town’s newest Select Board member. Keegan will take the seat being vacated by Select Board Chairman Daniel J. Dudiewicz, who announced in December that he was retiring from public service.

■Northampton public health officials are reaching out to people who may have had contact with an area resident diagnosed with measles a highly contagious disease that is rare in the U.S. over the weekend at Baystate Medical center in Springfield. Meredith O Leary, Northampton’s public health director, said Wednesday that there are no confirmed cases in Northampton as of right now.