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100 YEARS AGO Dec. 24, 1915 As a result of an inspection trip in the shopping district Wednesday night, Commissioner of Labor J. C. Clary yesterday morning issued a warning to stores and others employing children under 16 to more closely observe the child labor law. Mr. Clary and Deputy Commissioner E. I. McKinley said they saw approximately 50 boys under 16 working Wednesday night. The child labor law provides that children under 16 may be employed only by permission of the labor commissioner and that they shall not be worked longer than eight hours in one day, or before 6 a.m. or after 7 p.m. 50 YEARS AGO Dec. 24, 1965 Henry Wilson, father of seven children, was sentenced to a year in the state penitentiary Thursday after he pleaded guilty in Pulaski Circuit Court to charges of grand larceny. Wilson, 40, was charged with stealing about $300 worth of Stanley products Nov. 26 from a car owned by Claude Reynolds of Conway. Wilson’s wife, who lives at Austin in Lonoke County, testified Thursday that he deserted the family in August and that since that time had drawn a welfare check of $82 a month. 25 YEARS AGO Dec. 24, 1990 STAR CITY — As a young solider in World War II, Joseph P. Nelson wanted to be a pilot. But he had only completed the eighth grade in the Tarry community of Lincoln County, and was told he couldn’t be a pilot because his grades were too low. After the war, he got his education. On Tuesday, he became the first black person elected to the Star City School Board. Times have changed, Nelson said, from his school days, when black children did not have the same educational opportunities as white children. 10 YEARS AGO Dec. 24, 2005 Customers of the Perryville Water Department will have water for Christmas, but longterm service remains questionable as officials this week continued to deal with one of the worst droughts in Arkansas history. The Water Department draws and treats water from Cedar Lake in northwest Perryville, then forwards it to 2,000 customers in Perryville, Perry and outlying areas of Perry County. But a 40 percent decline in rainfall this year has lowered the reservoir by nearly 2 feet. The water level in Cedar Lake was only 3 feet above a submerged pumping station, Perryville Alderman O.B. Honeycutt said Thursday.