Other days
100 YEARS AGO Dec. 12, 1918
To plan for Arkansas’ participation in the government’s great plan for providing farms for returning soldiers and sailors, a meeting will be held at the Hotel Marion next Tuesday afternoon. The meeting will be attended by members of the State Council of Defense, big landowners of the state and others who are interested. A bill providing for the converting into farms of the wet, cut-over and waste lands of the United States is being prepared by officials of the Department of the Interior. The bill will provide that the government improve 100,000 acres in each state that has land available. The object of Tuesday’s meeting is to see that Arkansas has the 100,000 acres to offer.
50 YEARS AGO Dec. 12, 1968
The Little Rock University Board of Trustees will meet today at Little Rock to consider a compromise plan proposed by Governor Rockefeller for the institution’s merger with the University of Arkansas. It is expected to approve Mr. Rockefeller’s idea. Mr. Rockefeller proposed to merge Little Rock University with the University of Arkansas and make it a four-year institution. The merger would be contingent on Pulaski County’s starting a community junior college.
25 YEARS AGO Dec. 12, 1993
As Arkansas politicians gear up for the 1994 campaign season, names of potential candidates are surfacing. One former and one current member of the Legislature already have announced they will run for statewide office — Sen. Charlie Cole Chaffin of Benton will be a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor and former Rep. Bobby Tullis of Mineral Springs (Howard County) will be a Democratic candidate for auditor. Rep. Wayne Wagner of Manila plans to run for Congress as a Democrat in the 1st District. Sen. Jay Bradford of Pine Bluff and Rep. John Parkerson of Hot Springs plan to run for Congress as Democrats in the 4th District. But members of the state’s black legislative caucus have been quiet. Of the three black state senators and 10 black state representatives, only Rep. Irma Hunter Brown of Little Rock has mentioned the possibility of seeking higher office.
10 YEARS AGO Dec. 12, 2008
Plans to soften a much-criticized water sculpture in front of the federal courts building in downtown Little Rock moved forward Thursday with the release of computer-generated images showing how the area might look in five years. The images, taken at different angles in front of the building’s eastward addition, completed in 2007, reveal the replacement of some parts of a large expanse of concrete with grass, as well as the addition of ash trees, flowering evergreen plants and woodtopped benches. U.S. District Court Clerk Jim McCormack said that according to administration officials who met with him and a group of judges Wednesday, the improvements should cost about $120,000 and are expected to be complete before the fiscal year ends in September. As the project took shape over the summer, spectators including judges, courthouse employees and visitors gradually became aware that the long silver strips of metal piled east of the courthouse entrance weren’t discarded air-conditioning parts or construction debris, but the sculpture itself.