Other days

100 YEARS AGO Feb. 14, 1918

The courage of M.J. Ketcher, who conducts a tin shop at 1603 Main street, landed James Stewart, young negro, at police headquarters last night. Women residents of that neighborhood have been troubled recently by a negro who lurked around their houses at night. Ketcher had just put his car in the garage behind his place of business and gone through his shop when he noticed a negro who looked cautiously up and down main street and then darted between the houses.

50 YEARS AGO Feb. 14, 1968

The House Rules Committee gave a “do pass” recommendation Tuesday to a bill (HB 83) by Representative Bernice Kizer of Fort Smith that would shorten by one hour the time that polling places are open in the evening. Mrs. Kizer’s bill provides for polling places to be open from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., which is that same schedule that was followed until the 1967 legislature extended the hours to 7:30 p.m. Mrs. Kizer said the extra hour worked a hardship on election judges and clerks and made it difficult to hire enough of them. Judges and clerks are paid $7 a day.

25 YEARS AGO Feb. 14, 1993 Long the butt of

50th-in-everything jokes, Mississippi hit first in something last summer. In August, Mississippi became the only state in the nation to enforce an “informed consent law,” a 24-hour required waiting period for women before they can obtain an abortion. Last week, Arkansas legislators took the first step toward following their neighbor’s lead. Rep. Lacy Landers of Benton introduced House Bill 1534 on Thursday to require a 24-hour waiting period for Arkansas women wanting an abortion. It would require a physician to “orally inform” the woman of abortion risks and alternatives.

10 YEARS AGO Feb. 14, 2008

In 1979, then-Gov. Clinton cut a ribbon to open a traveling exhibit of a miniature White House when it went on display in Little Rock for the first time. Some 29 years later, Clinton’s prediction has not only proven accurate, but now the Clinton Presidential Center is hosting the same exhibit’s second appearance in Arkansas. The White House in Miniature, which has been on display this week, officially opens Saturday and will remain on display through July 13. “People love it because it’s all of the areas of the White House that you don’t necessarily get to see,” said Clinton library curator Christine Mouw.