A Look Back: Dec. 5

50 Years Ago

■A public hearing on a 170-unit $3 million housing project for the Baker Hill area will be held by the Zoning Board of Appeals Dec. 19. The request for a comprehensive building permit was filed late last week by the Pioneer Home Sponsors Inc., the same group that filed for a 150-unit project in 1971.

■The Look Park Christmas tree, victim of the energy crisis, will not be displayed this year. Park director Brian Elliott said yesterday an unlighted “Seasons Greetings” sign will substitute for the tree and will be displayed across the park entrance.

25 Years Ago

■The dean of religious life at Mount Holyoke College will be ordained as a minister Sunday at the First Churches in Northampton. Andrea Ayvazian, who is also the Protestant chaplain at Mount Holyoke College, will be ordained in a ceremony Sunday that will include a guest appearance by the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, the former president of Yale University.

■More than 1,000 people paraded across Easthampton Friday to kick off the Christmas season with the first annual Holiday Stroll. The event, which drew children, teens, adults and seniors, was touted as an “overwhelming success” by both organizers and participants.

10 Years Ago

■With Northampton’s efforts to negotiate a mitigating casino agreement with MGM Resorts International at a near standstill, Mayor David J. Narkewicz is laying the groundwork for a potential petition to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to have the city designated as a surrounding community should MGM be granted a casino license in Springfield.

■The Hadley Select Board on Wednesday unanimously appointed a veteran police sergeant as acting chief for three months to fill in for current Police Chief Dennis J. Hukowicz who remains on sick leave. Sgt. Damion Shanley, who joined the Hadley Police Department in 1995, has already been supervising the department’s operations along with Sgt. Michael Mason for the past month.