Other days

100 YEARS AGO

June 3, 1922

FORT SMITH — The Fort Smith Body Company yesterday received from the United States government a contract calling for the construction of 50 bodies for one-ton trucks for the government mail service, aggregating $15,000. Work on the contract will begin immediately, as the bodies must be completed in 90 days. This is said to be the first contract of its kind ever received from the government by any firm in the Southwest.

50 YEARS AGO

June 3, 1972

■ A change in rent controls under the Economic Stabilization Program was effective May 24. The change exempts from rent control single family dwellings and apartments, provided the landlord and members of his family do not own or have an interest in more than four such rental units. It does not matter what term leases are involved nor is it necessary that an apartment building with four or less units be owner occupied according to E. E. Cook Jr., district director of Internal Revenue for Arkansas.

25 YEARS AGO

June 3, 1997

SARATOGA — Lewis Diggs is about to revolutionize the Saratoga School District and perhaps other schools in the state as well. Diggs, superintendent for the 250-pupil district, plans to take the district this fall to a four-day week, extending the school day from nearly seven hours to 8 1/2 hours. Most of the teachers, parents and students seem to support the proposal. Although there are several reasons for doing so, Diggs said, the primary one is to reduce costs. … The state Legislature spurred interest in the idea this year, Betty Davis said, with passage of legislation permitting fourday school weeks. She said her Department of Education unit is waiting for regulations to be drafted but that the law says a shorter week should have the same amount of classroom time as a five-day week. … Diggs, who is beginning his ninth year as Saratoga superintendent, said he sees other benefits of going to a shorter week. While attending college, he said, he worked in a Hot Springs factory that switched to a fourday week. “They actually proved their production went up,” he said, noting that he hopes his schools have the same experience.

10 YEARS AGO

June 3, 2012

■ More than a year after the oldest in-use bridge in Arkansas collapsed in Conway County, leaving the crumpled piece of history in a creek, bids will be solicited to replace the bridge. Conway County Judge Jimmy Hart said bids will be solicited in the next 30 days to replace Fryer’s Ford Bridge, the 1891 steeltruss bridge that was destroyed when a heavy truck pulling a trailer crossed the bridge. … The one-lane, 131-foot-long bridge, about six miles north of Morrilton, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. The Sweet H20 truck that crossed the bridge was hauling a trailer with a reel of metal water pipe to a gas drilling site, Hart said. The weight limit posted on the bridge was 3 tons — the truck and trailer weighed 9.3 tons, he said… Scott Fryer, who lives near Jacksonville, knew it well — the bridge was named for his family, who once farmed the area, including his great-grandfather, Richard Fryer, the first postmaster in Solgohachia.