Other days

100 YEARS AGO July 12, 1917

■ The organization of a fire department for the Twelfth Division cantonment was perfected yesterday. Tom Exum, chief of the Argenta Fire Department for eight years was appointed chief of the Cantonment Department. Mr. Exum resigned from the Argenta department April 11. He will select his four assistants. A chemical fire fighting apparatus, motor driven, was ordered yesterday. The fire station will be centrally located. Forty other motor trucks will be at the disposal of the department if a fire breaks out.

50 YEARS AGO July 12, 1967

■ A squall line that moved through Little Rock about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday caused considerable wind and lightning damage in the western part of the city and dumped an estimated inch of rain on portions of east and west Little Rock. Two thunderstorm cells ahead of a cold front passed over Little Rock from the north, moving to the east and west of the Weather Bureau at Adams Field and continued on into southern Arkansas, bringing high wind and some hail. The temperature at Little Rock dropped from 95 — the high of the year — to 81 in about 20 minutes.

25 YEARS AGO July 12, 1992

■ One man was killed, another seriously injured, and a third presumed dead after a boating accident Saturday in the Arkansas River near Burns Park in North Little Rock. Robert Whittecar, 32, of North Little Rock was pulled from the water shortly after the accident by witnesses. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. It was not known Saturday night if Whittecar drowned or died of injuries from the crash. Richard Brooks, 29, of Mabelvale was found in the water near the boat. “He was injured pretty badly,” Sgt. Steve Canady said.

10 YEARS AGO

July 12, 2007

■ A former North Little Rock pastor who was on the run for about a year after abandoning his congregation in the middle of the night, taking along church money and a pricey car, admitted his guilt Wednesday before a federal judge. Robert David Keith, who will turn 37 next week, admitted defrauding the church and others, in Arkansas and elsewhere, of $131,075 altogether. The theft and fraud he committed in other jurisdictions were part of a “global plea agreement” in Little Rock that will allow him to be sentenced for all the crimes at the same time, said U.S. Attorney Jane Duke.