Other days

100 YEARS AGO May 18, 1919

SEARCY — White county officers scored in the fight against dipping cattle. They say they caught two men in the act of blowing up the vat at New Hope, about half way between Beebe and El Paso. Deputies Jack George and Bert Campbell, with H. P. Waddle, who has charge of the tick eradication work in this country, say they had waited only a half hour peaceably in most places; the residents of some sections are being fined every time dipping day comes around, as they will not dip their cattle. These vats will be rebuilt, and it is believed that there will be no further trouble, as the majority of people of the county are in favor of dipping and uphold the officers in their efforts to enforce the law, only a small number fighting it.

50 YEARS AGO May 18, 1969

FAYETTEVILLE — Robert A. Bowman, vice president of the power and industrial division of Bechtel Corporation at San Francisco, will receive the distinguished alumnus citation at the University of Arkansas’s spring commencement here May 31. The citation is the University’s and its Alumni Association’s highest honor. Bowman graduated from the U of A in 1929. He is a native of Huntington, Ind., and a graduate of Rogers High School. Bowman received his degree in mechanical engineering. After graduation, Bowman joined Westinghouse and in 1948 he was named manager of engineering for the newly formed Atomic Power Division. … While still with Westinghouse, Bowman was responsible for the engineering that led to the design of the propulsion plant for the first nuclear submarine, the Nautilus.

25 YEARS AGO May 18, 1994

WEST MEMPHIS — Ken Whorton of West Memphis was waiting for a player’s card at the Treasure Bay Casino at Tunica, Miss., when his wife decided to slip a couple of bucks into a quarter slot machine. “I put $2.50 in the machine,” Margaret Whorton said. “All of the sudden lights started going off and bells rang, everything was going off. I told my niece, `Go get Kenny, I think I did something good.’” Four Quartermania symbols had turned up on the face of the machine. “I was in shock,” she said. “It was the most thrilling feeling, right up there with watching my son walk across the stage, graduating from college.” Her payoff Friday was $286,644.54, the largest since casinos opened at Tunica, she said.

10 YEARS AGO May 18, 2009

■ Little Rock is searching for a consultant to study how well the capital city is performing its job and whether any departments should change or restructure. The extensive review, brought up during 2009 budget discussions, is needed in light of the city having about 175 vacant jobs throughout the city’s 15 departments, City Manager Bruce Moore said this week. Moore wants answers by September, when city officials start discussing the 2010 budget. The study is something city directors contemplated last fall, when Moore and Mayor Mark Stodola searched for $2.8 million in cuts to balance the 2009 budget. City officials passed a $137.5 million general fund budget, a budget 2.6 percent bigger than 2008. “We will hopefully be able to show we’ve been able to operate very lean” while still meeting residents’ needs, Moore said. He hopes the study won’t cost more than $20,000.