A Look Back, Jan. 13

Published: 01-12-2025 11:01 AM

50 Years Ago

■The Cooley Dickinson Hospital today continued indefinitely a limited ban on visiting hours ordered yesterday because of a high rate of flu cases among patients. Dr. John Waldman, the infection control physician at the hospital, estimated today that 24 to 26 patients out of a total of 215 patients have the flu.

■John T. Joyce, owner and pharmacist of Pleasant Pharmacy, met a would-be armed robber with a gun of his own in the store Saturday. Joyce, 59, held the man at bay and then grappled with him to wrest the gun from the man’s hand. The bandit’s request for drugs was partially fulfilled, however, as he was given five pills of a pain-killing drug to treat the head injuries he received in the struggle with Joyce.

25 Years Ago

■Postage rate increases proposed for next year could drive catalog businesses to the internet and seriously harm the magazine industry, business executives say. The Postal Service on Tuesday proposed a wide-ranging set of new rates to take effect in early 2001, including a 1-cent increase in first class mail to 34 cents.

■The cost of entering Look Memorial Park by car is going up, as well as the fee for use of a new multi-purpose facility that will host weddings and small bands. For the first time in 17 years, the cost for a weekday pass to enter the park has increased Ð from $1 to $2.

10 Years Ago

■After nearly a decade of educating Amherst residents and business owners about how to reduce the amount of waste they create, Recycling Coordinator Susan Waite will leave her position by the end of February. Waite, who has been an hourly recycling and solid waste coordinator for Northampton since 2013, will become the city’s part-time solid waste planner once she departs Amherst.

■Lisa L. Minnick, the longest-serving member of the Northampton School Committee, has announced that she will not seek re-election this year. Minnick was appointed to the school board in December 1990 to fill an unexpired term. She was elected to her first full term in 1991, and has been elected every four years since.