Other days

100 YEARS AGO

March 20, 1917

■ A tentative draft of an ordinance providing for an occupation tax, prepared and introduced by the Ways and Means Committee, was read once at the meeting of the City Council last night and referred to the Ways and Means Committee. The aldermen will caucus Wednesday night to revise the measure. Later hearings will be held by the Ways and Means Committee.

50 YEARS AGO

March 20, 1967

■ State Welfare Commissioner A. J. (Red) Moss, 59, will resign his $12,000-a-year post in April to become director of the Little Rock insuring office of the Federal Housing Administration. Moss will replace Gaither C. Johnston, who is to retire April 8, in the $14,600-a-year federal job. Len E. Blaylock of Nimrod, Governor Rockefeller’s appointee as assistant commissioner, will become acting commissioner when Moss leaves.

25 YEARS AGO

March 20, 1992

■ The Jacksonville City Council said Thursday night it wants a meeting with state and federal officials to answer questions about a hazardous waste incinerator at the old Vertac Chemical Corp. plant. “I want to know why they told me one thing six years ago and now they’re crawfishing,” Gary Fletcher, a Jacksonville alderman, said. Fletcher was referring to statements made by federal Environmental Protection Agency spokesman David Bary. Bary said Tuesday that the EPA had mistakenly told Jacksonville residents for years that federal regulations require 99.9999 percent of dioxin-contaminated wastes to be destroyed during incineration.

10 YEARS AGO

March 20, 2007

■ A public forum on whether Little Rock’s mayor should wield new authority sank into shouting and confusion Monday night. About 70 residents at the Dunbar Community Center mostly swatted at a proposal by Mayor Mark Stodola to make his a more powerful office. It was the first of seven scheduled forums on the proposal, which asks voters to transform Stodola’s position from a ceremonial parttime job into the stronger executive role commonly identified with its title. The meeting came a few hours after the state House approved a bill to give Little Rock voters another way to consider increasing mayoral power. The bill is now in a Senate committee.