Network Amherst: The Lehrer Report

By Phyllis Lehrer

Published on June 26, 2009

I don't know how 28 tomato plants, six pepper plants and four dill plants transformed me from gardener to farmer but I had the honor and privilege to represent agriculture on the town's Book and Plow Float in Hadley's 350th parade. I loved it! The parade was spectacular, the floats so imaginative. It was fun to wave to friends who recognized me and strangers. Thanks to all the volunteers who made the parade such a joy and run so smoothly.

Amherst's parade Sept. 27 should be just as great since we can learn from our mother town. The deadline to register for the parade is July 1. Forms are on the town's Web site: www.amherstma.gov. Click on the 250 logo, then click on parade.

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The Montague Center Congregational Church will hold a Strawberry Supper Saturday at 5:30 p.m. The menu includes stuffed chicken breast, rice, gravy, salad, hot vegetable, homemade bread and strawberry shortcake on homemade biscuits. For reservations call 774-7256. Takeout is available.

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Nick Bentley, the son of Richard and Carolyn Bentley of North Prospect Street in Amherst, graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School where he served on the law review. The announcement came by a clever post card featuring a photo of a very young Nick.

Southey Saul, the daughter of Robert Saul and Katherine Fretwell of East Hadley Road in Amherst, graduated from Haverford College in Haverford, Pa., where she majored in psychology.

Ryan Gentes, the son of William and Suzanne Gentes, graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio.

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Eli Martz, the son of Phyllis and Eric Martz of Hunters Hill Circle in Amherst, was sworn

into the police force of Middletown, Conn. last month and is attending the Connecticut Police Academy for six months. He graduated from ARHS in 1996, from Warren Wilson College in 2001 and was the Assistant Director of the Hawk Circle Camp in Cherry Valley, N.Y., coordinator of logistics for the Wilderness Experience at the Athenian School in Danville, Calif, and a bartender in Oneonta Mohegan Sun.

Noah Klugman, the son of Elana Klugman and Jeff Weston of Kettle Hill Road in Shutesbury, received the Computer Science Prize Science from Kalamazoo College, where he is a sophomore. He is spending the summer as an intern at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, doing research and computer programming for the Mars Rover.

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Dick Mudgett and Carol Lee of Amherst attended a Boston Pops concert to hear Holst's "The Planets" narrated by Buzz Aldrin featuring planet photos astronauts took from space during the 1969 moon landing. The concert was part of MIT's "Giant Leap Night." Aldrin trained at MIT's Instumentation Lab in a lunar Landing Vehicle simulator used to descend from the command module and land on the moon. Dick was invited to the symposium by the Aeronautics and Aeronautics Department to recognize his role as a project engineer in the development of a space sextant and the lunar landing telescope used for final descent to the moon's surface.