Other days

100 YEARS AGO Aug. 7, 1917

PINE BLUFF — Wilbur Orto, aged 27, president of the Orto Brokerage Company and son of Dr. Z Orto, died in a local sanitarium this morning as the result of a fractured spine. He was injured at Lake Chicot late Saturday night, when he dived into shallow water. Orto and Frank Bloom of this city left Saturday for Lake Village with Maj. L. S. Edwards and Captain Culpepper of Little Rock, to spend a few days on Lake Chicot as a farewell outing before reporting to duty at the Officers’ Training Camp at Leon Springs, Texas.

50 YEARS AGO Aug. 7, 1967

■ Three persons were trapped in an upstairs apartment and burned to death shortly after midnight Sunday when a fire of undetermined origin swept through a four-unit apartment house at 915 North Olive Street, North Little Rock. The victims were Johnnie Dare, 50, his wife, Mrs. Lilly Dare, 42, and Mrs. Ethel Goforth, 69, of 1219 Orange Street, who was staying overnight with the Dares.

25 YEARS AGO Aug. 7, 1992

RUSSELLVILLE — A man who pleaded guilty in 1983 to murdering his mother, his sister and his grandfather, as well as stabbing his brother, will have a parole hearing today. Robert Wayne Simpson, 22, formerly of Russellville, will have his first parole hearing since being sentenced in July 1983 to 38 years in prison. On April 4 1983, Robert Simpson, who was 14 at the time, shot to death his mother, Margaret Simpson, 39; his sister, Jennifer Simpson, 7; and his grandfather, Thomas Simpson, 75. Thomas Simpson died from his gunshot wounds on April 21, 1983.

10 YEARS AGO Aug. 7, 2007

■ Fire officials in North Little Rock want to snuff out sales of novelty lighters resembling toy race cars, cell phones and even cartoon characters, saying they are too tempting of a hazard for young children. “Kids are fascinated by fire anyway, especially when a lighter is made to look like a race car,” said Lt. Mark Shoemaker, the city’s deputy fire marshal. “The lighters will play tunes and have flashing lights, and some look like Tweety Bird, dogs, frogs and toy guns. Some even look like a fire extinguisher.” The city fire marshal’s office and North Little Rock Fire Department administrators plan to ask the North Little Rock City Council to ban the sale and distribution of the novelty lighters within the city limits.