A Look Back: Feb. 13

50 Years Ago

■Stanley G. Kostek, Mrs. Margaret C. Dwyer, Joseph Cummings and Michael Kostek were winners yesterday in major Hadley town election contests. A total of 1,269 voters went to the polls from an eligibility list of about 2,400. Counters and tabulators did not complete their duties until 1:45 this morning.

■Two and a half months after fire extensively damaged the $400,000 Occupational and Vocational Developmental Center for the Handicapped on Nonotuck Street in Florence, about two-thirds of the clients there are back at work while renovations continue. A Haverhill man has been charged with arson in connection with the fire.

25 Years Ago

■Despite the mayor’s demand that he retire, the Northampton fire chief plans to return to work Monday, and his attorney says if Lawrence J. Jones is forced to step down then he may sue the city based on age discrimination.

■Smith College will use income from the largest single gift in its history, a $4.2 million bequest from Louise Wolff Kahn of Dallas, Texas, to expand opportunities for Smith students to work with members of the Smith faculty on scholarly projects, the college says.

10 Years Ago

■Farmers, high school and college students and others from around western Massachusetts are preparing to board buses bound for Washington, D.C., this weekend to join people from around the nation for the Forward on Climate rally at the National Mall Sunday. Area residents who signed up for the buses say they hope the rally will put pressure on President Barack Obama to halt the development of the Keystone XL Canadian tar sands pipeline.

■If a group of energy-conscious residents get their way, Northampton may soon be one of a handful of communities to earn a “solarize” designation from the state. A team of volunteer residents and the city are applying to participate in Solarize Massachusetts, a state program that encourages the adoption of small-scale solar photovoltaic systems.

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