Other days
100 YEARS AGO Sept. 15, 1918
The two front wheels were taken off Alderman Sam Owens’ car, while in his garage, 615 Cypress Street, Friday night. The tires were almost new and Mr. Owens is trying to have them traced. The car, a Buick, was stolen twice last week, once in Little Rock and later from near the Presbyterian church in North Little Rock.
50 YEARS AGO Sept. 15, 1968 Three North Little Rock Negroes convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in March 1961 for the rape of a white girl were pardoned by Governor Rockefeller Friday. He said they were innocent of the crime. Rawleigh Williams, 24, Marvin Aron Hammond, 23, and Troy Alexander, 23, were convicted of raping a teen-aged girl who was with her boyfriend in a car parked on Cherry Hill. A Pulaski County Circuit Court jury of two women and 10 men, two of them Negroes, deliberated 5½ hours after a seven day trial before convicting them. The youths maintained their innocence. Bob Scott, aide to the governor on prison, parole and pardon affairs, said the state Parole Board investigated the cases. The three men were given lie-detector tests which indicated they told the truth about their innocence. The governor granted full pardons and restored their citizenship rights. It may have been the first time in Arkansas that Negroes were pardoned on such a charge involving a white person.
25 YEARS AGO Sept. 15, 1993
EARLE — Police arrested four union members and slightly injured another during a Jesse Jackson-led union march Tuesday in downtown Earle. About 250 mostly out-of-state Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union members marched five blocks from Earle High School to Earle Industries, where Jackson said he had hoped to meet with owner Peter Felsenthal. The closet accessory manufacturer employs about 300 workers, most of whom are black women. Jackson said he wanted “to resolve the conflict at Earle Industries,” a reference to an allegedly broken promise by Felsenthal to abide by a 156-131 vote in October 1991 to form a union at the Crittendon County plant. 10 YEARS AGO Sept. 15, 2008
The attempted mugging last month of At-Large City Director Joan Adcock in a southwest Little Rock parking lot fired up residents who want to revitalize their neighborhood along Base Line and Geyer Springs roads. Tonight members of the Geyer Springs Road Revitalization Project will meet at the Southwest Community Center to talk about the area’s attributes and ideas to attract more businesses to Geyer Springs and Base Line roads. “A lot of it had to do with the attack on Joan Adcock. The thought was if someone would be stupid enough to attack Director Adcock, then everyone is vulnerable,” said Pat Gee, a longtime resident who heads the group. “We had been talking about it but hadn’t done anything and I think this just opened our eyes to the fact we have to get busy and take action.”