A Look Back: April 13

50 Years Ago

■A Northampton High School student won first prize at the 33rd annual Model Congress at American International College, Saturday. Jonathan Roche, 22 Dickinson St., won a trophy as “the most outstanding participant” in the two-day congress, designed to give students practice in parliamentary procedures.

■The Northampton Zoning Board of Appeals has turned down the petition of Roy M. Wright Inc. of Springfield to build a campground on the Oxbow. The decision filed yesterday was negative “primarily because of the inaccessibility of the place,” according to ZBA chairman Charles Dragon.

25 Years Ago

■The loss of $17,000 in state money deals a “serious and severe setback” to the Forbes Library’s book budget, director Blaise Bisaillon says, requiring a 15% cut. That cut for the fiscal year that begins this summer means that about 800 books or magazines that would have been bought or repaired now won’t be.

■A local task force is working to make police, court and community responses to domestic abuse more alert to racial and ethnic differences. Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth D. Scheibel’s Domestic Violence Task Force will run a Multiculturalism Conference this month, where speakers will address issues of race, ethnicity, disabilities and gay and lesbian concerns.

10 Years Ago

■The School Committee approved a $28.61 million budget Thursday for the coming fiscal year that cuts 15 full-time teaching positions and busing to Northampton High School and also raises school lunch and athletic fees.

■Beginning Saturday, the streets of downtown Amherst will be filled with music and other entertainment during the spring, summer and fall weekends. The effort is the work of the Business Improvement District, which is recruiting musicians to perform on the sidewalks in an initiative called Play Out Amherst.

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