Other days

100 YEARS AGO Aug. 20, 1917

James A. South, aged 58, 1814 West Fifteenth St., a lineman employed by the Little Rock Railway & Electric Company, was electrocuted about 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon at Amble, about one mile northwest of Levy, when a wire which he was stringing came in contact with a live wire. South was working with several other men who were constructing an electric light line to Camp Pike. Details of the accident had not been reported to the claim department of the company last night.

50 YEARS AGO

Aug. 20, 1967 Doctors and hospitals are not legally compelled to provide treatment — even emergency treatment — if they choose not to do so. But the overwhelming majority of them would be morally and ethically bound to provide emergency treatment anywhere it might be needed. This question arose out of two recent cases of alleged rape of girls, aged 9 and 12. The 12-year-old sought treatment at Memorial Hospital at North Little Rock and was refused by the physician on duty in the emergency room because, as a resident at the University of Arkansas Medical Center, he was violating school rules by “moonlighting” at Memorial. The other case involved a 9-year-old who was first taken to University Hospital. She, too, was refused treatment and was then taken to Arkansas Baptist Medical Center, which admitted her and treated her for a 2-inch gash on her throat that University Hospital staff people had overlooked.

25 YEARS AGO

Aug. 20, 1992 RUSSELLVILLE — Witnesses in the murder trial of Alfred Lee Palmer testified Wednesday that they saw Pamela Louise Smith in a truck owned by Palmer the night Smith disappeared. But none of the witnesses could place Palmer, 74, of Atkins (Pope County) in the truck with the victim. Palmer is charged with capital murder in the stabbing and sexual assault Jan. 23, 1989, of Smith, 24, of Atkins. Darlene Evans, 25, of Morrilton (Conway County) also is charged with capital murder in the case but is being tried separately.

10 YEARS AGO

Aug. 20, 2007 With students at most Little Rock School District campuses readying for their first day of classes, School Board President Katherine Mitchell told young people at a Little Rock church on Sunday not to let their actions be governed by the expectations of others. “Don’t let anybody define who you are,” she told the students in the congregation at Allison Presbyterian Church during a “Back to School” service. “Don’t let anybody define you by your color, where you live or how much money you have.”