Other days
100 YEARS AGO Aug. 12, 1919
■ Reports received by the Executive Committee of the Arkansas Teachers’ Association from county superintendents and examiners and others indicate that the attendance at the next annual session of the teachers will be the largest in the association’s history. The annual convention will be held in Little Rock October 29 to November 1, inclusive. The Program Committee is arranging the program. Educators of national prominence are being secured for the convention.
50 YEARS AGO Aug. 12, 1969
■ The Little Rock Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, an association of Negro Clergymen, issued a statement Monday condemning the city’s Civil Service Commission for its handling of the Margaret Trimble case. The Alliance demanded that the Commission reopen its investigation of the case, which dealt with the alleged mistreatment of Miss Trimble, a 13-year-old mentally retarded Negro girl, by two Little Rock policemen as they were taking her to Pulaski County Juvenile Hall July 28. The Commission reported Friday after two days of hearings that the two officers “may have used excessive force” in taking Miss Trimble into custody, but that it had found “no intent” on the part of the officers to be abusive to the girl. The Negro ministers’ statement called for “a more thorough investigation by the Civil Service Commission of all incidents related to police brutality in the black community.”
25 YEARS AGO Aug. 12, 1994
■ When Little Rock’s city directors gather for a work retreat Saturday, indications are they don’t plan to retreat from recent board problems. … “I think we really need to sit down Saturday, and we need to get the politics and this racial crap, this crap, out of the way,” Director Jeff Sharp said when Wednesday’s board agenda session slipped into accusations of racism, “cut deals” and playing politics over certain issues. … Sharp said Thursday, “we really don’t have a lot of problems with respect. In all honesty, we don’t. But, sometimes — and I won’t name anyone in particular — but everything we try to do has racial overtones and it shouldn’t be that way.” … “The board members will have to work on trying to, and learning to, communicate better with each other,” Director John Lewellen said.
10 YEARS AGO Aug. 12, 2009
■ BRYANT — Bryant School District Superintendent Richard Abernathy is leaving the position to become executive director of the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators. Abernathy is in his seventh year as the head of the growing school district in Saline County…“I will have the opportunity to work with legislators and policy makers at the state level and possibly the national level to influence policy that enables our children to compete in a global economy,” Abernathy wrote in a Friday letter announcing the decision…His new role begins in July 2010.