A Look Back

50 Years Ago

■Northampton’s St. Patrick’s Day Committee has named City Clerk James Faulkner grand marshal to preside over the city’s St. Patrick’s activities. Recognized by most in his home Bay State area and by many of Northampton’s citizenry, he is often called upon to answer questions concerning past events and happenings relating to city business and politics.

■The teachers’ subcommittee of the Northampton School Committee last night considered adding a transcendental meditation (TM) course to the curriculum at Northampton High School. The course would include study of the growth of the creative intelligence in individuals as well as the theory and practice of transcendental meditation.

25 Years Ago

■Northampton will receive more than $162,000 in tuition from students enrolled in city schools this year under the school choice program. The sum is more than triple the amount taken in the year before.

■Beginning Thursday, computers and television sets are banned from disposal at the city’s Glendale Road landfill. Under a new recycling program supported by a state grant, the items will be recycled and used in a job retraining program in Springfield.

10 Years Ago

■Squads of police in riot gear mobilized four times Saturday to break up large groups of revelers participating in this year’s Blarney Blowout in Amherst, each time making arrests as they moved in on groups that assembled in dense crowds. The confrontations grew violent with participants throwing bottles and cans at the police.

■Dietz Construction Corp. is taking on a special building project this spring – the 51-year-old company is building itself new headquarters at 10 Industrial Parkway. Owner David Dietz said the 9,000-square-foot facility will be built on land the company owns directly across the street from its former home at 7 Industrial Parkway.