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100 YEARS AGO July 23, 1920

FORT SMITH — A score of persons were slightly injured and severely shaken up when a Kansas City Southern passenger train on route from Heavener, Okla., to Fort Smith was struck head on by a string of boxcars at Grand Junction, south of here this morning.

50 YEARS AGO July 23, 1970

CONWAY — Circuit Judge Russell C. Roberts of Conway Wednesday declared a mistrial in the embezzlement trial of Robert L. Pruitt, former head cashier at State College of Arkansas, because prosecutor Jeff Mobley passed out election campaign cards to two members of the jury. Judge Roberts announced the mistrial after a brief hearing in his chambers at which defense attorneys complained about Mobley’s action and two jurors testified that the prosecutor, who is opposed for reelection, had given his campaign cards to them.

25 YEARS AGO July 23, 1995

DEQUEEN — Chancellor Bob Lowery has been dressing down people who fail to dress up for court. He recently admonished a woman for wearing shorts to an uncontested divorce hearing at Nashville and chewed out a man who approached the bench while smacking gum. Earlier, at Ashdown, the judge scolded a woman who appeared in court wearing shorts and a Mickey Mouse T-shirt. “They were ready for the beach,” he said of some of the people appearing before his bench. And, the 52-year-old Lowery said, “Mickey Mouse is not the worst thing I’ve seen.” “It’s shocking to me,” he said of courtroom dress and behavior.

10 YEARS AGO July 23, 2010

LAKE CITY — Lake City aldermen have called for a 1-percent sales tax to be placed on the Craighead County town’s Nov. 2 general election ballot to help pay for repairs to the city’s streets and sewer system. If passed, the tax would generate about $110,000 a year, Mayor Billy Anderson said. Half of the tax would be used to repair city streets damaged by a 2009 ice storm. The other half of the collections is earmarked for the city’s water and sewer department, Anderson said. “It’s either go with a tax or raise utilities,” Anderson said. “The tax won’t hurt our people as much. We’ll get some revenues from people passing through town. It’s the most fair way to go.” The Craighead County town of 1,956 spends about $10,000 a year on street improvements, but Anderson sees a need for at least $50,000 for immediate repairs. Because of growth, the city must also purchase an additional $500,000 water tank for residential use, he said. Lake City does not have a citywide sales tax. Craighead County has a 1% sales tax.