Other days

100 YEARS AGO

Oct. 2, 1921

FORT SMITH — Five arrests were made and considerable information on liquor law violations was gathered for grand jury use during a 600-mile automobile trip through northern Arkansas, just completed, John T. Tisdale, federal enforcement officer, announced Friday. The federal grand jury meets at Harrison on October 10 for a week’s session, and a thorough investigation of reported violations of the Volstead act in the mountains of north and northwest Arkansas will be made.

50 YEARS AGO

Oct. 2, 1971

■ A nationwide strike by members of the AFL-CIO International Longshoremen’s Association may affect the landlocked state of Arkansas to the tune of several million dollars a day if a settlement is not reached soon. Using terms like “very critical situation,” Dan Roebuck, director of the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission, forecast a gloomy outlook for the state’s economy if the strike is not settled in the near future. The effect on the exporting manufacturers in the state who ship down the Arkansas River to the port of New Orleans is likely to hurt the state “drastically,” Roebuck said. He estimated that the losses could amount to “several million dollars a day.”

25 YEARS AGO

Oct. 2, 1996

■ About 39,000 Arkansans got a 12 percent raise Tuesday, when the minimum wage went up from $4.25 to $4.75 an hour. “It will help out a lot,” said Anthony McGhee, 22, of Camden. McGhee has part-time jobs at Burger King and Pizza Hut in Camden, working between 40 and 50 hours a week at minimum wage. McGhee, who’s married and has one child, said he didn’t think his employers would cut back his hours because of the wage increase. But some said the increase would mean higher costs for business — and eventually higher prices for consumers. The 50-cent-anhour raise in the minimum wage, approved by Congress Aug. 2, is the first of two increases that will bolster it to $5.15 an hour next Sept. 1. The overall 90-cent raise means another $1,800 annually for a full-time worker and, the government estimates, will remove 300,000 Americans from poverty rolls.

10 YEARS AGO

Oct. 2, 2011

■ If the crowd that gathered on Main Street on Saturday afternoon is any indication, Little Rock is hungry for change — perhaps too hungry. During the city’s first Main Street Food Truck Festival, vendors were swarmed by ravenous revelers, drawn by the eclectic wheeled eateries and fair weather in the heart of downtown. “It’s a great idea, but the lines are really long,” said Nathanael Wills as he, his wife, Carrie, and mother, Andrea, were leaving the festival about noon. The festival, which opened at 11 a.m. and closed at 7 p.m., reflects the work of the Downtown Little Rock Partnership to help revitalize the lackluster Main Street area.