Other days

100 YEARS AGO

June 24, 1922

TEXARKANA — One of the largest catfish seen in the local market in many years was brought here last night by Blake Parks and sold to a local restaurant man. It weighed 84 pounds before dressing and was of the blue channel variety. It measured four feet six inches from its mouth to its tail. The fish was caught by an ordinary single set hook in Red River, near Index, 12 miles north of here. Some suggest that it is a product of the Mississippi River, and has made its way up Red River during the recent high water stage.

50 YEARS AGO

June 24, 1972

■ A series of explosions spread through the Mountaire Corporation feed milling building at 124 East Fifth Street, North Little Rock, Friday morning, injuring at least 14 persons in the building. … Fire Chief Joe Venetta said a series of dust explosions in rapid sequence — “just like boom, boom, boom at short intervals” — spread from about the center of the building and traveled up a grain elevator tower and down in the basement and across the first floor. Venetta said most of the injured were working on the first floor. The explosions and ensuing fire were “evidently caused from a cutting or welding torch, where they were working on pipes,” Venetta said.

25 YEARS AGO

June 24, 1997

FORDYCE — Three fires set early Sunday damaged two downtown businesses and destroyed a pickup belonging to Municipal Court Judge Tommy Mays, police said. The business fires were reported about 2:40 a.m. at the Sounds of Glory Christian Book Store at 208 Main St. and across the street at the Spinning Wheel, a crafts store at 217 Main St., Police Chief Joe Pennington said Monday. The bookstore is owned by police officer Joey Martin, Pennington said. Two women passers-by reported the fires but did not see who set them. About 20 minutes after the blazes, Mays’ white 1994 Chevrolet pickup truck was set on fire at his residence at 710 Charlotte St., Pennington said. The truck was parked in a driveway.

10 YEARS AGO June 24, 2012

■ Mix-ups, miscommunication and errors continued to surface in the Phillips County judicial system last week as authorities worked to clear up a docket of years-old cases left languishing in circuit court because of unserved fugitive warrants. Court officials discovered that one man, expected to appear for a hearing, had been released from jail by the sheriff without being notified of his court date. Another man had been jailed on a warrant issued for his father. Still another had been arrested on a warrant issued for a man with a similar name. The errors surfaced during hearings last week in which a judge pressed prosecutors and law-enforcement officers to answer for missing case files and misdirected court documents.