Other days

100 YEARS AGO

Jan. 15, 1921

■ That the Royal hotel fire at England, in which eight persons lost their lives, was of incendiary origin, was the opinion expressed last night by Judge Felix G. Lindsey, state fire marshal, who is conducting an investigation. Judge Lindsey spent yesterday in England at the request of the mayor of the town, examining 15 witnesses. Twelve more witnesses have been supposed to appear at further hearings to be held at 9 o’clock this morning. “There is no doubt,” Judge Lindsey said, “of the fire’s incendiary origin. Oil was used, and in my opinion the building was fired in two places.”

50 YEARS AGO

Jan. 15, 1971

■ Senator Joe T. Ford of Little Rock offered a bill Thursday carrying out several of the recommendations of the Legislative Advisory Committee on Tax Reform and adding a repealer of the use-tax exemptions now enjoyed by utility, transportation and pipeline companies. The most important section of the bill would tighten the state’s property assessment laws, forcing most of the counties of the state to increase assessments. Property is supposed to be assessed now at 20 per cent of its real value, but penalties are not prescribed unless assessments in a county fell below 18 per cent.

25 YEARS AGO

Jan. 15, 1996

■ Three computer glitches have hobbled Arkansas’ new motor voter law. First, the problem was signatures, then birth dates, and finally, a computer code giving Arkansas a 76th county. About 3,000 voter applications to the state’s various county clerks’ offices have been on hold as the computer company — County Management Information Systems of Fayetteville — made corrections. County clerks say they are concerned about the problems and the possibility of bigger headaches, especially in the 1996 election year.

10 YEARS AGO

Jan. 15, 2011

■ Little Rock National Airport, Adams Field, loses about $44,000 a year to pilfered parking, mostly from airport employees and commuters, officials say. To combat the problem, a committee of airport commissioners voted Friday to recommend the purchase of a $115,000 automatic vehicle identification system to crack down on those with expired or shared parking permits. The employee parking lot has a keypad on which drivers enter a code to open the gate. Employees (restaurant workers, for example) and commuters (pilots, flight attendants and sometimes ticket agents) have been sharing the codes and parking permits with friends and family members, who can then park free.