A Look Back: April 10

50 Years Ago

■Elinor Roberts, a senior at Northampton High School, has been chosen 1973 Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow for Massachusetts. “I was totally surprised,” the new state homemaker said of receiving the award, which includes a $1,500 scholarship from General Mills.

■Five high school students from the Northampton area are planning a bike ride to Truro, Cape Cod, and back, as a benefit for the Save the Children in Vietnam fund. Boys taking part will be: Michael Masi, Steve Dunn and Danny Hardy, all of Northampton, and David Tatro and Peter Brooks of Hatfield.

25 Years Ago

■Funded by the citizens group that calls itself Hadley First, a group of business owners and residents filed suit Thursday against the Hadley Planning Board and developers proposing to build a Wal-Mart on Route 9. The suit, filed in Hampshire Superior Court, aims to overturn the board’s March 17 decision giving W.S. Development of Chestnut Hill approval to build a store and renovate the Mountain Farms Mall, said a lawyer for the group.

■Northampton High School students who exercise at least 2½ hours per week will now be able to substitute that exercise for mandated physical education classes. The School Committee Thursday night approved interim principal Frank Tudryn’s request to amend the graduation requirements on health and physical education to include this new stipulation.

10 Years Ago

■National GOP strategist Karl Rove spent most of an hour railing against federal spending under the Obama administration and ripping apart the Affordable Care Act during a talk at the University of Massachusetts Tuesday night, a message that was met with jeers and protests throughout by a crowd of 400 people who packed the ballroom of the Student Union.

■After nearly 38 years, Amherst Woodworking & Supply Inc. will put away its tools and close for good next month. Owner David Short said a lengthy recession battered his architectural woodworking business to the point that he can no longer keep it afloat. He informed the company’s 30 employees of plans to wind down operations over the next several weeks before closing May 17.

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