A Look Back: Jan. 30

By JIM BRIDGMAN

For the Gazette

Published: 01-30-2023 7:00 AM

50 Years Ago

■Northampton’s first application for preferential tax treatment for a developer building in a “blighted, open, decadent, or substandard area” was taken under advisement by the Planning Board Thursday. The developers, Harold G. Lash and Gerald P. Zide of Fall River, plan a 252-unit project south of Bridge Road and east of Straw Avenue.

■A Westfield store was the scene of a robbery Thursday night when Michael Patenaude, 18-year-old son of Northampton City Council President Robert Patenaude, was forced to hand about $100 to an armed gunman. The store, the Open Pantry on Southampton Road, is managed by Northampton City Councilor Harry Chapman.

25 Years Ago

■Concerning the allegations of President Clinton’s having had a sexual relationship with a young White House intern, most people on Main Street in Northampton who were asked yesterday were forgiving. Many said the times are simply more permissive and, besides, Clinton is doing the job as president.

■The task force looking for ways to racially balance the Jackson Street Elementary School is not likely to recommend a wholesale rewriting of district boundaries. Although the task force has not rejected the idea, members say creating new enrollment districts would disrupt neighborhoods and families, especially in the Jackson Street district, which would be affected the most.

10 Years Ago

■Facing diverse and ceaseless protests, the Boy Scouts of America is signaling its readiness to end the nationwide exclusion of gays as scouts or leaders and give the sponsors of local troops the freedom to decide the matter for themselves. Scout leaders in the Pioneer Valley reacted favorably to the proposal.

■Historic Northampton has been awarded a $5,000 grant from MassHumanities to expand its historic marker series, allowing the addition of sites important to Northampton’s rich abolitionist history. Historic Northampton will use the funding to research, design and install the new makers at sites associated with the underground railroad and the pre-Civil War anti-slavery movement.

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