A Look Back: Feb. 9

50 Years Ago

■U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Raymond F. Matusko, son of Mrs. Mary J. Matusko of Williams Street, has arrived for duty at Ubon Royal Thai AFB, Thailand. Sgt. Matusko is an aircraft maintenance technician. He attended Smith’s Vocational High School.

■Jane Ames, a senior at Northampton High School, has been selected to receive this year’s DAR Good Citizens Award. Miss Ames was chosen by a vote of the faculty and the Senior Class on the basis of her dependability, service to the school and community, leadership, and patriotism.

25 Years Ago

■State and federal wildlife officials are offering as much as a $2,500 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person who shot and wounded an endangered peregrine falcon. The wounded bird was found Jan. 31 in Hatfield.

■The owner of the vacant Hill & Dale shopping plaza on King Street says that by this spring, he might be ready to bring a proposal on use of the land before the city for approval. “We’ll be asking the city for permission to do what we want to do,” said Robert Glass of Lyman Road, who owns the shopping plaza.

10 Years Ago

■A historic nor’easter dumped more than a foot of snow overnight. Downtown Northampton was almost entirely shut down by 5 p.m., though a few stalwart shops and restaurants remained open as Storm Nemo barreled in.

■Job growth will continue to be very gradual in the Valley, analysts say, with fields such as health care, technology and financial services likely to offer the most new positions. Michael Truckey, executive director of the Franklin Hampshire Career Center in Greenfield, said jobs tend to “ebb and flow” in the Pioneer Valley on a less pronounced level than in other parts of the country because “the Happy Valley hasn’t changed that much over time.”

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