Other days

100 YEARS AGO March 12, 1912 A movement to secure public playgrounds for the use of the children of the city was launched last night when the Little Rock Playground Association was formed, and plans were made for a systematic campaign for the purpose of arousing interest. A mass meeting is to be held to effect a permanent organization and decide upon a plan of action.

50 YEARS AGO March 12, 1962 An “atomic” blast shook Memorial Stadium yesterday and an “Operation Recovery” team of Navy men whipped into action to demonstrate nuclear blast area procedure for about 3,000 observers. The United States Naval Reserve Training Center was host for the demonstration, which involved a unit of Seabees from Davidsville, R.I., touring the United States to show what’s involved in combatting fires, radioactive contamination and destruction from a nuclear explosion.

25 YEARS AGO March 12, 1987 FORT SMITH — U.S. District Judge H. Franklin Waters says that the Van Buren School District must bar school prayers, no matter how popular they may be. In issuing an injunction Tuesday, Waters said the majority has no right to dictate to the minority. “That’s not the way it works, and thank heavens that’s not the way it is in this country,” he said. Waters, once a member of the Springdale School Board, praised the courage of students who left a classroom when the teacher started praying.

10 YEARS AGO March 12, 2002 The Elaine and Altheimer Unified school districts became Arkansas’ first state-managed districts Monday because of academic track records that show one of every two students scoring in the bottom fourth of students nationally on the annual Stanford Achievement Test. State Board of Education members voted to place the two small districts into the final phase of Arkansas’ academic-distress program and authorized state Department of Education Director Ray Simon to appoint “chief academic officers” to direct the daily operations of the troubled systems.