A Look Back: Nov. 6

50 Years Ago

■Area school officials said today that possible winter shortages of heating oil have raised the specter of a curtailed school program. However, all of the school superintendents contacted insisted that no specific local plans for cutting back on school sessions have been developed.

■Family tables will still probably carry the traditional turkey this Thanksgiving, but shoppers will be paying more than they did last year. The price has jumped about 30 cents per pound, according to local food stores and some turkey growers. The jump from 69 to 99 cents a pound is attributed to increased grain prices.

25 Years Ago

■The sound of heavy equipment will be heard outside Northampton High School in the spring, when work gets under way on the $22.8 million renovation and expansion voters approved overwhelmingly Tuesday. The measure to raise taxes for the project passed by a 3-to-1 ratio, 8,071 to 2,725.

■Hampshire County government not only received the overwhelming endorsement of the 20 communities it serves Election Day, but its financial well-being was also assured, according to County Administrator Pennington Geis. For the first time in 10 years, Geis said, the county government will receive annual assessments from member towns that will be nearly enough to cover its yearly operating budget.

10 Years Ago

■Not to be outdone by the fall mum show, a determined banana plant in the Smith College Botanic Garden’s Lyman Plant House broke through a pane of glass in the 30-foot-high greenhouse roof over the weekend. Though conservatory manager Rob Nicholson said he’d never seen such a phenomenon in his 21 years on the job, knowing what plants can do, he also wasn’t entirely surprised.

■Time may be running out for businessman Eric Suher to use liquor licenses he owns for two downtown locations. The License Commission is expected to discuss Wednesday — for the fourth time in the last year — whether to revoke or suspend Suher-owned liquor licenses for the former Baptist Church and for the Blue Note Guitar space on Center Street.