A Look Back, July 13

For the fourth year the State Massachusetts girls’ slo-pitch softball championship has been held in Northampton, and for the third time in those four years Northampton is the state champion. The Northampton girls came back to beat Amherst twice last evening to win the championship and the right to represent Massachusetts in the national tournament in Idaho in August.
Caroline Chaffin celebrated her 100th birthday last week. Born July 9, 1876, Miss Chaffin taught piano and was music supervisor for the schools in West Springfield and Agawam. A former assistant house mother at the Capen School in Northampton, she later operated a guest house on Henshaw Avenue for college girls.

A Turkey Hill Road quarry operation, the target of neighborhood complaints and a months-long court case, will undergo regular monitoring to protect wetlands at the site under conditions set by city environmentalists. Monthly inspections of hydrologic conditions on the quarry property are among 50 conditions set by the Conservation Commission late last month.
Hampshire Community United Way’s decision to cut off funding for regional Boy Scout troops over the gay-leader issue continues to spur sharp community debate, dividing agency directors and supporters. Scout leaders say they are receiving direct contributions for their programs and some predict the United Way decision will impact the agency’s annual fund drive this fall.

The ground rules for opening needle-exchange programs changed Monday after Gov. Charlie Baker approved new language that could pave the way for more of these clinics to open statewide. “It’s very exciting because it’s a health question,” Cheryl Zoll, CEO of Tapestry Health Inc. in Florence, said of the changes.
More than 300 people gathered Tuesday evening in front of Northampton City Hall for an event titled Stand Up for Black Lives. The crowd spilled onto Main Street, halting traffic for more than an hour as activists shared their stories and demanded change. “We have to work together, because as long as our brothers are forced into a life of crime, the government will continue to justify our genocide,” said Zion Barbour president of the Students of Color Alliance at Northampton High School.

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