A Look Back, Aug. 26

50 Years Ago

■Spawned by federal legislation passed during the so-called “Great Society” years of President Johnson, a city-wide housing group created to provide housing to low-income families now faces extinction. A chief cause of Micah Corp.’s financial troubles is the impact of inflation on this particular housing effort.

■Northampton police were summoned five times over the weekend to handle disturbances arising from a labor dispute at the Bookland bookstore in Kingsgate Plaza on King Street. According to store manager Doris Drozdal, the incidents involved representatives of Retail Clerk Employee Union Local 1459 “harassing” persons and employees entering and leaving the store.

25 Years Ago

■Local educators are praising a new program to raise the achievement of high school students in vocational and technical schools. Called High Schools That Work, the program began this spring at the Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School, after the school received a three-year, $150,000 federal grant through the state’s Comprehensive School Reform Development Program.

■With Gov. Paul Cellucci giving the oath of office, 101 white-gloved recruits were welcomed into the Massachusetts State Police on Friday, the first class of recruits in three years. “You are a visible reminder that respect and tolerance for all will continue to prevail,” Cellucci told the new state police officers in a ceremony held in the Mullins Center at the University of Massachusetts.

10 Years Ago

■Sydne Didier, 43, of Amherst, took second place in the women’s 40 years and over masters bracket at the Lake Zurich Marathon Swim in Switzerland on Aug. 10. The race was 26.4-kilometers (16.4 miles) across the famous lake from Rapperswil to Zurich. She was the only swimmer from the western hemisphere in the race, which draws mostly Europeans.

■The Three Sisters Sanctuary in Goshen celebrated its 20th anniversary Saturday. The event drew over 100 visitors to the unusual environmental living art display on Route 112, as well as a film crew from Canada. The sanctuary and its creator Richard Richardson will be featured in a documentary in the works for the Travel Channel.