Other days

100 YEARS AGO March 29, 1924

■ A bolt of lightning struck the spire of the First Methodist Church, Eighth and Center streets … last night, during the rain and electrical storm. No panic followed, and the crowd remained calm. The church was crowded to its capacity, the occasion being the awarding of diplomas to students in the Sunday School Training course, just completed. The crash of the bolt was deafening, and the church was plunged into darkness. A flash of electricity, playing over the pipe organ, plainly visible to those in the darkened church. A small section of the room was damaged and several bricks were displaced.

50 YEARS AGO March 29, 1974

■ Chancellor John T. Jernigan Thursday ordered an end to salary payments to Dr. Grant Cooper, the avowed communist who teaches history at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The effect of the ruling would be to remove Dr. Cooper from his $12,000-a-year job as an assistant professor of history at UALR. Judge Jernigan ruled in a suit challenging Dr. Cooper’s employment that Dr. Cooper’s activities violated Act 292 of 1941, which makes it unlawful for a person to advocate the overthrow of the government, or for any state agencies or institutions to employ a Communist.

25 YEARS AGO March 29, 1999

MOUNTAIN HOME — Mountain Home Mayor Joe Dillard is like a lot of other mayors in Arkansas — he’s bracing for possible computer glitches when 2000 rolls around. … Mountain Home began auditing and upgrading its computers and software for glitches last year. The northern Arkansas city also is acquiring auxiliary generators to power its municipal water and sewer plants in case of electrical failures when 2000 comes. … The concern is that computers and software may malfunction in 2000 because of a programming weakness. In the 1960s programmers condensed years into two digits to save expensive computer memory. Under that system, the year 1999 is 99. So when Jan. 1, 2000, rolls around, some computers won’t distinguish between 1900 and 2000.

10 YEARS AGO March 29, 2014

CONWAY — The Arkansas Ethics Commission is investigating Circuit Judge Michael Maggio in regard to his acceptance of campaign contributions exceeding the legal limit from political action committees financed by a nursing-home tycoon. The commission said it will examine whether Maggio took contributions greater than the state-mandated limit of $2,000 from any single donor in his since-halted campaign for the Arkansas Court of Appeals. Records show that three of the committees gave Maggio more than $2,000 each for that race. The panel also will examine the legitimacy of the PACs, which began accepting money from tycoon Michael Morton or his businesses on July 8. That same day, Maggio heard a plea from one of Morton’s 32 nursing homes to reduce a Faulkner County jury’s multimillion-dollar judgment against it. Three days later, Maggio reduced the $5.2 million award to $1 million.