A Look Back: May 30

50 Years Ago

■Gov. Francis Sargent today nominated local attorney Alvertus J. Morse to be a special justice of the Hampshire County District Court. Morse, a 43-year-old Northampton native and Amherst College graduate, has practiced law in the city for 17 years, run for mayor, served on the city council, and recently been chair of the Charter Commission.

■Mrs. David Nuttelman of Burts Pit Road, accompanied by her daughter, Melissa, and members of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, have returned from a trip to Moscow and Leningrad. While in Moscow, the group visited the Medical School of the First District of Moscow, which educates nurses, midwives and doctors’ assistants.

25 Years Ago

■The Northampton Police Department is reviewing how it trains officers to handle hate crimes in light of an incident last week in which two men walking downtown were ridiculed and one was beaten by four youths yelling anti-gay epithets. At the same time, a rally is planned at City Hall next week to decry hate crimes.

■Two second-degree black belt karate teachers will open a school in a former factory building on Pine Street in Florence, now that they have Planning Board permission. Patrick Moriarty and Daniel Gobillot will open a dojo on the second floor of the building. The club, which they are calling Pine Forest Karate, has approximately 25 members.

10 Years Ago

■A website promoting tourism in Hampshire County is up and running. The Hampshire County Regional Tourism Council officially unveiled visithampshirecounty.com Wednesday evening at a reception at the Lord Jeffery Inn.

■Northampton is one step closer to removing the Upper Roberts Meadow Dam off Chesterfield Road in Leeds. After years of discussion about the dam’s fate, the Board of Public Works last week hired an engineering firm to draw up final design plans and shepherd the $1.3 million project through the complex permitting requirements.

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