Other days

100 YEARS AGO

Nov. 17, 1921

FORT SMITH — Five thousand bales of cotton valued at $300,000 were destroyed by fire tonight when lightning struck shed No. 9 of the Fort Smith Compress Company here. The fire was discovered shortly after 8 o’clock during a heavy electrical and rain storm. At midnight the fire was believed to be under control, and adjoining sheds were considered out of danger. The cotton was owned by individual growers and buyers. It is said that 3,000 bales belonged to farmers who had stored the cotton in the warehouse, and that the remainder was owned by buyers. No insurance was carried by the compress company, and it is believed only a few farmers had insured their cotton. The shed was valued at $30,000.

50 YEARS AGO

Nov. 17, 1971

Charges of resisting arrest against Larry Burton, 22, and Gary Woods, 20, writers for a Little Rock underground newspaper, A Different Drummer, have been dropped by the state. A related charge against Woods of interfering with an officer also was dropped. … A jury that tried Woods and Burton December 31, 1969, deadlocked and the cases had been continued on the docket at that time for another trial. The charges stemmed from an encounter between the defendants and two Little Rock policemen at MacArthur Park August 24, 1969. It had developed in the trial that Woods and Burton were copying a police car license number for an item to be published in the newspaper when the

25 YEARS AGO

Nov. 17, 1996

Eleven students from Mills University Studies High School in the Pulaski County Special School District will stage a filibuster at a local store today to raise money for a trip to Washington, D.C. The students hope to raise at least $4,000 in donations and pledges by talking nonstop from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. at the Walmart store on Base Line Road. The pledges and donations will be matched by the Walmart Corp. through its community involvement grant program. The students are participating in Close Up, a civic education program that takes young people to Washington to study the federal government firsthand. The trip will cost $11,000.

10 YEARS AGO

Nov. 17, 2011

JACKSONVILLE — First Electric recently donated $7,500 to various nonprofit organizations in Cleburne and Perry counties. The donations were part of the cooperative’s Operation Round-Up, which collects donations from members’ utility bills and gives the money to nonprofit organizations. The donations are made by First Electric members who allow their electric bills to be rounded up to the next dollar amount. The spare change is held in a trust account and administered by a board. The program was founded in 1998 and has provided $515,315 to nonprofit organizations in Arkansas since then. … First Electric Cooperative donated $14,500 to nonprofit organizations throughout its service area.