Other days

100 YEARS AGO

Feb. 10, 1920

FORT SMITH — A report to the Board of Health tonight added 75 new cases of influenza to the already long list in Fort Smith. This is the smallest number of cases reported Sunday. Dr. H.A. McKelvey, health officer, estimated tonight there were approximately 1,400 cases reported in the city in the last 10 days or two weeks. He said the epidemic was not as severe as a year ago, but that some pneumonia cases had developed.

50 YEARS AGO

Feb. 10, 1970

HOT SPRINGS — Frank Patterson, who attracted attention in December by giving free drinks to customers at his clothing store, said Monday he planned to employ two topless shoeshine girls. “I’ve been told that topless is not against the law in Arkansas,” said Patterson, owner of Patterson’s Park Avenue Men’s Wear. “I think that topless shoeshines for a men’s clothing store would be a big attraction if it were shown to the public that it was not illegal, lewd or immoral.”

25 YEARS AGO

Feb. 10, 1995

■ Fulfilling a campaign promise to make the Pulaski County sheriff’s office more professional and accountable to the public, Sheriff Randy Johnson has created an internal affairs unit that will investigate citizen complaints and direct department policy. The Professional Standards Unit was among a number of changes, including personnel reassignments, the sheriff announced Thursday as part of an initial restructuring of the sheriff’s office. So far, the reassignments have resulted in three additional patrol officers on county streets — an accomplishment Johnson said is “just a drop in the bucket” of what he ultimately wants to see.

10 YEARS AGO

Feb. 10, 2010

CONWAY — Employees are scrambling to determine what happened to a big chunk of Conway’s cash-reserve fund, which in December city leaders thought was in good enough shape for acrossthe-board 1 percent raises. Mayor Tab Townsell said Tuesday the fund is “substantially lower” than he and others had thought, perhaps by hundreds of thousands of dollars, and might prompt personnel cuts because the city’s 2010 budget was “based on inaccurate information.” Asked whether theft was a possibility, Townsell said, “That’s always possible. I don’t know that it is. I don’t know that it isn’t. … There’s nothing that indicates there was anything stolen, although at this point I can’t rule that out.”