Other days

100 YEARS AGO April 28, 1917

FORT SMITH — United States Senator William F. Kirby refuses to resign at the request of Mayor J. E. Powers and other Van Buren citizens, who telegraphed him on Thursday to “let a man take your place,” because he had announced his opposition to President Wilson’s selective draft plan. The senator today answered the telegram and bade his critics not to worry as the bill on Congress exempts them from military duty because of age disability.

50 YEARS AGO April 28, 1967

Dr. H. D. Luck of Arkadelphia today urged all Democrats to ignore petitions to refer the party affiliation law to the voters in the 1968 general election, charging that it is an attempt to reassure the election of Gov. Rockefeller and not an effort to preserve anyone’s right to vote. He said Hardy Croxton, chairman of the Committee for Voter Registration, concurs in this but observed that it will probably result in having them accused of fearing the will of the people. “By filing 36,000 signatures by June 29, the Republicans can effectively kill party registration and meddle in the Democratic primary next year before the people’s will can be expressed,” he warned.

25 YEARS AGO April 28, 1992

The cause of the April 3 fire that destroyed the McCain Professional Building in North Little Rock cannot be determined, and a federal investigation into the fire has ended. In a news release Monday, Bill Buford, resident agent in charge of the local office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said the agency doesn’t anticipate any further investigation into the fire. “No accelerants were found,” Buford said.

10 YEARS AGO April 28, 2007

BENTONVILLE — Arkansas’ public colleges and universities continue to struggle to keep students, according to the Arkansas Department of Higher Education’s annual report on student retention and graduation. Statewide, 68.6 percent of 10,480 first-time, full-time freshmen enrolled in the state’s 11 public universities in 2000 returned for their sophomore year. Only 46.3 percent of those 10,480 students went on to earn degrees by 2006, the report said. “We’re getting them there, we’re just not keeping them,” said Kaneaster Hodges, chairman of the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board. “We’re still at a very embarrassing rate for graduations.”