Other days

100 YEARS AGO Nov. 1, 1918 PRESCOTT– A coroner’s jury yesterday decided that the negro who was found dead in Union township last week, with a bullet hole through his head and a pistol lying at his feet, came to his death at the hands of unknown persons. The negro was a stranger in the community, but had told several parties his name was Louie Sales, and that he had had some trouble with some white men at Chidester and was running from them.

50 YEARS AGO Nov. 1, 1968

The city garbage collectors who are members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees voted Thursday night to go on strike this morning. They said the basic issue was the refusal of the City Manager Board to sign a contract with the Federation. The Board, under the threat of the strike, had said Wednesday that it would recognize the Federation, but would not sign a contract.

25 YEARS AGO Nov. 1, 1993

Two El Dorado citizens have won a battle to have a federal health agency do an extensive two-year study of health data in their city. The study will attempt to see whether health problems can be linked to identifiable chemical emissions. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a part of the U. S. Health Service, sent a team of scientists to Arkansas in March for a preliminary investigation into health problems in El Dorado at the request of residents Mardell Smith and Tommy Gates. Smith said that even though El Dorado had unusually high rates of certain cancers and rare neurological diseases, she didn’t expect to win the two-year review because of stiff competition…”When the ATSDR people were here in the spring, they said something like, “We have 264 requests for help from other places like yours, and we know we can only help 85 of them due to our funds and manpower limits,” Smith said. “I am really glad we got their attention,” Smith said. “I appreciate their coming.”

10 YEARS AGO Nov. 1, 2008

An increased number of Arkansas schools failed to meet federal No Child Left Behind Act requirements this year and face penalties ranging from student transfers to closure because of low scores on state math and literacy exams. A total 375 of the state’s 1,087 schools are categorized by the state as needing to improve on the basis of the Arkansas Benchmark and End-of-Course exams, including results from the most recent round of exams given last spring… Last year 325 schools were listed as needing improvement, 50 fewer than this year. Arkansas Education Commissioner Ken James said the increase was expected. “The probability is very high that the number of schools in need of improvement will increase each year because the bar gets higher each year,” James said in releasing the 2008 list.