Other days

100 YEARS AGO

April 12, 1922

BATESVILLE — The crisis in the anti-dipping war in Independence County seems to have passed. W.N. Landreth, county supervisor of tick eradication, says that the cattle inspectors who also are law enforcement officers employed by the United States government, are now engaged in dipping cattle south of the river. They have been dipping on an average of 25 percent more cattle at each vat than have ever been dipped before. The interpretation of the law as given by Judge Coleman in his charge to the Grand Jury has satisfied many as to the validity of the law, which they had been led to believe was not legal. Also the fact that the United States government is ready to back up the law-abiding citizens and protect them if they dip their cattle has served to quiet the fears of many against possible danger from the violent element, it is said.

50 YEARS AGO

April 12, 1972

■ Senator John L. McClellan (Dem. Ark.) said Monday that his investments in Arkansas banks and savings and loan associations did not constitute a conflict of interest or what he called a “political sin.” “I didn’t give up my citizenship when I went to the United States Senate,” McClellan said. “I have a right to invest in Arkansas. I’ve advised everybody else for years to do it. And I’ve tried to be thrifty, economical and I’ve made some investments in Arkansas. I can’t see it being a political sin or any other kind of sin to want to help develop our state.” Foster Johnson of Little Rock, one of three opponents of McClellan in the Democratic primary, charged Monday that the senator’s holdings were a conflict of interest.

25 YEARS AGO

April 12, 1997

■ Former Prosecuting Attorney Dan Harmon ran his office as a criminal enterprise for six years, demanded money in return for dropping charges, possessed stolen drugs and assaulted a newspaper reporter, according to a federal indictment released Friday. A federal grand jury in Little Rock charged Harmon, 52, of Benton, Sheridan businessman Roger C. Walls and Sheridan attorney William A. Murphy with violating the Racketeering

Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act. The racketeering count targeting Harmon contains accusations of 11 separate crimes. He is also charged separately for 10 of the crimes. “In reality, the defendants operated the Seventh Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney’s Office as a conduit to obtain monetary benefits to themselves and others, and to participate in and conceal criminal activities,” the indictment states. Harmon as prosecutor, Walls as administrator of the 7th Judicial District Drug Task Force and Murphy as a defense attorney were the indictment’s main targets. Harmon’s office was home to the task force, which covered Saline, Grant and Hot Spring counties, until its demise in January 1996. On Friday, Harmon characterized the charges as “pretty fantastic” and “something out of Alice in Wonderland.” He denied all of the allegations.

10 YEARS AGO

April 12, 2012

■ Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox imposed a $1.2 billion fine Wednesday on Johnson & Johnson and a subsidiary for fraud and deceptive trade practices over labeling of one of the drugmaker’s best-selling medications, the antipsychotic Risperdal. “This is a big win for Arkansas. Today … sends a clear signal that big drug companies like Johnson & Johnson and [subsidiary] Janssen Pharmaceutical cannot lie to [federal regulators], patients and doctors in order to defraud Arkansas taxpayers of our Medicaid dollars,” Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, who brought suit against the company, said in a prepared statement. “These two companies put profits before people, and they are rightfully being held responsible for their actions.” State law requires that the money related to fraud, based on the number of prescriptions paid by Medicaid over a 3½-year span, go into a state Medicaid fund. The fine, the lowest available to the judge, is the highest in recent memory in the state and rivals 1998’s $1.6 billion tobacco settlement, which also benefited Medicaid. On Tuesday, a jury of six men and six women found that the company committed Medicaid fraud and engaged in deceptive trade practices by hiding or downplaying potentially dangerous side effects of its Risperdal medication.