Other days
100 YEARS AGO Sept. 14, 1918
PINE BLUFF — A petition signed by several hundred Cotton Belt employees and others is being circulated over the city, protesting to the War Industries Board at Washington against the proposed order prohibiting the use of gasoline for automobile riding on Sunday.
50 YEARS AGO Sept. 14, 1968
EL DORADO — Police announced Friday that they had uncovered 404 slot machines in a raid on an El Dorado novelty company, prompting a flight here by Governor Rockefeller to investigate the discovery. But N.O. Bledsoe, owner of the firm, said he was “mystified” at the raid Thursday afternoon because it was “common knowledge” that the machines were in the building. Bledsoe told a news conference Friday afternoon that the gambling devices were in the building when he bought the National Novelty and Vending Company 21 years ago, and that they had not been used. Bledsoe, who was foreman of the March term of the Union County Grand Jury, said he didn’t know it was against the law to store the machines, but he did know it was against the law to transport them so he could get rid of them. Mr. Rockefeller and three aides joined Col. Ralph Scott, director of the Arkansas State Police, in flying to El Dorado to investigate the situation.
25 YEARS AGO Sept. 14, 1993
Authorities across Arkansas have seized more than 1,300 license plates since Aug. 13, ordering owners to produce proof of liability insurance or park their vehicles. The action comes under Act 357 of 1993, which allows a police officer to impound a license plate if a driver cannot produce proof of liability insurance. The driver then is issued a green temporary sticker that has a 3-inch-tall expiration date. He is given 10 days to show that he has insurance. If the driver produces proof, the plate is returned from the state Department of Finance and Administration. If not, the driver’s license won’t be renewed and he or she will be charged with no proof of insurance and failure to register the vehicle. Each charge may garner a $500 fine and six months in jail. Of the 1,300 people cited since the law went into effect Aug. 13, 484 have failed to show proof of insurance.
10 YEARS AGO Sept. 14, 2008
History-making decisions from the nation’s highest court and Arkansas’ highest official helped cast aside the school year for Little Rock’s four public high schools 50 years ago. After the turmoil of the 1957 integration at Little Rock’s Central High School, a series of federal court decisions and state legislative actions revolved around the Little Rock School Board’s attempt to forestall integration of its high schools. … Hours after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Cooper v. Aaron, Gov. Orval Faubus … ordered the closure of Little Rock’s four high schools – Central, Hall, Technical and the allblack Horace Mann. … The closures were necessary to preserve the peace, Faubus said at the time, because “domestic violence is impending if Negroes integrate at Central High.