Other days
100 YEARS AGO May 12, 1922
GURDON — Four were killed and between 30 and 40 were injured here when a gas lamp exploded in a negro schoolhouse where commencement exercises were in progress, starting a frantic stampede. The killed were “Aunt” Rena Craig, aged 70, Lottie Keys, aged 16; a year-old baby named Craighead and another unidentified infant. … The exercises were being held on the second floor of the school building. When the lamp exploded a window curtain caught fire, and the audience, estimated at about 300, made a dash for the single exit. The four dead either jumped or were thrown from the windows. … All the others injured were hurt in the mad battle on the stairs. Little damage was done by the fire and no one was burned.
50 YEARS AGO May 12, 1972
■ The state Higher Education Commission today adopted a resolution requesting the creation of a statewide system of community junior colleges and asked for a $45.5 million appropriation to begin work on development of the system. The commission was acting on the recommendations made by the state Advisory Commission of Community Junior Colleges, which was created to study the feasibility of developing a network of junior colleges.
25 YEARS AGO May 12, 1997
WEST FORK — There is no question that cellular communication towers are ugly, like misplaced pins sticking out of a pincushion, spoiling some of Northwest Arkansas’ most beautiful terrain. For that reason, residents near West Fork say they won’t allow a Southwestern Bell cellular tower to be built near their homes without a fight. Janet Wright, who has a $200,000 home on the side of a wooded mountain, is one of the residents trying to stop a neighboring landowner from leasing land to the company. “We’ve dug our heels in right now,” Wright said. “The more we looked into it, the more abhorrent it became to us. We’re not doing this as a not-in-my-back yard type of thing. We believe this doesn’t belong in anyone’s back yard.” As the demand for cellular communication services explodes in Northwest Arkansas, the clash between residents and communication companies is expected to play out repeatedly. Meanwhile, local governments are scrambling to figure out how much authority they have to regulate the location of the towers. Planners for Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Washington County all are looking at placing restrictions on communication towers.
10 YEARS AGO May 12, 2012
■ The panel of federal judges considering whether an Arkansas Senate district’s boundaries violate the Federal Voting Rights Act and need to be redrawn issued an order Friday stating that the primary election will occur, as scheduled, May 22. They did not issue a final ruling on the case but said they would not postpone the primary now that early voting is already under way. Early voting began Monday. Chief U.S. District Judge J. Leon Holmes, U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright and 8th U.S. Circuit of Appeals Judge Lavenski Smith, a former Arkansas Supreme Court justice, heard the case, which took place Monday through Thursday in Helena-West Helena. Gov. Mike Beebe, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel and Secretary of State Mark Martin are defendants. They make up the Arkansas Board of Apportionment, which is charged with drawing state House and Senate district boundaries to account for population shifts found in the U.S. Census that occurs every 10 years. The lawsuit claims that the state intentionally drew Senate district boundaries to dilute the opportunity for black voters in Senate District 24 to elect the candidate of their choice. The lawsuit contends that Senate district lines, specifically the boundaries of District 24, violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1973 as well as the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which were ratified after the Civil War to protect blacks’ civil rights. Since the late 1980s, Arkansas has had to create House and Senate districts with majority-black populations to account for lower rates of black voting caused by institutionalized bias and to enhance the influence of black voters.