Other days

100 YEARS AGO April 30, 1917 About 50 students of Shorter College, negro, Argenta, were forced to flee in haste shortly after 1 o’clock this (Monday) morning when fire destroyed the large three-story frame building at 307 East Fourth street, used as a dormitory by the institution. The dormitory was conducted by W.M. Byrd, president of the college. The fire started on the first floor and had attained considerable headway before any of the inmates were awakened. Several of them were painfully but not seriously injured in making their escape, and practically all of them lost all of their possessions.

50 YEARS AGO

April 30, 1967 Next step in the proposed Pulaski County School Consolidation plan will apparently be for some civic group to take the matter over in an effort to get it on the ballot. E. Grainger Williams, chairman of the Pulaski County School Study Commission, said Friday that he would confer with Don E. Blackmon, county school supervisor, this week on the matter. The plan, which Williams’ group developed, was approved by the State Board of Education last week.

25 YEARS AGO

April 30, 1992 DARDANELLE — School officials were the targets of vandalism and threatening calls this month after they eliminated 19 positions, but authorities don’t know if the actions were connected, they said Wednesday. “I personally want to believe that none of our employees would lower themselves to such behavior,” Superintendent Jim Braden wrote. Braden, who was unavailable for comment Tuesday and Wednesday, made that comment in a letter Friday to staff members of the Dardanelle School District in Yell County.

10 YEARS AGO

April 30, 2007

The state surveyor has tendered his resignation, effective June 30, after state Sen. Jerry Taylor, a retired surveyor, tried and then gave up on an effort to limit the state surveyor to serving eight years in the position. But the Legislature enacted measures by the Pine Bluff Democrat to transfer the division in which the state surveyor works from the office of the state land commissioner to the state Department of Agriculture and no longer require the surveyor to investigate complaints against other surveyors. Of the 668 surveyors who are licensed to do work in Arkansas, 407 reside in the state, said Joe Clements, executive director of the state Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors.