A Look Back, June 10

50 Years Ago

■James F. Cahillane, chairman of the Northampton Redevelopment Authority and board member for five years, announced last night that he will step down on June 30. Under Cahillane’s term, the city has seen the growth of two NRA projects. The Northampton Industrial Park was completed in the fall of 1972 and the Pleasant/River Urban Renewal project is nearing the completion of the survey and planning phase.

■Patrick John Melnik has received the juris doctor degree from New England School of Law in Boston. Melnik, who graduated summa cum laude, received the Board of Trustees Award for the highest-ranking student in the day division.

25 Years Ago

■Seniors hoping to expand Medicare and protect Social Security may give Congress one million reasons to pay attention next fall. Isaac BenEzra, a member of the Amherst chapter of the Massachusetts Senior Action Council, said the idea of a Million Seniors March, patterned after the well-publicized Million Man and Million Moms marches, arose at last month’s meeting of the state board of the council.

■While the Northampton Planning Board opted Thursday against tightening restrictions on large-scale retailers, its members did decide to toughen the rules for some of the city’s smallest vendors: the people who hold tag sales. The board voted to recommend the city adopt an ordinance regulating tag sales in an effort to reduce the traffic congestion and other problems that have been associated with them.

10 Years Ago

■Northampton Mayor David J. Narkewicz Monday announced that Police Capt. Jody D. Kasper, with the department since 1998, and Manchester, Connecticut, Police Chief Marc L. Montminy are finalists for the post of Northampton’s next police chief.

■A Springfield woman who has worked in the housing field in West Hartford, Connecticut, and at ServiceNet Inc. of Northampton was named Monday to succeed Jon Hite as executive director of the Northampton Housing Authority. The housing authority’s board of directors unanimously voted to hire Cara Clifford, 45, to lead the authority after Hite retires this month.