Other days

100 YEARS AGO

Feb. 14, 1922

HEBER SPRINGS — Promise of $50 of the “prettiest money he ever saw” inspired Maynard Atkins, aged 23, a young farmer of Cleburne County, to set fire to a barn on the Ed Loven farm near Pearson, in the southwest part of the county, according to a written confession Atkins is said to have made to officers after his arrest last week. Atkins is in jail here, and so is his brother, Sanford Atkins. … The Loven barn was burned Thursday night with a loss of $1,500. … It is said that the arrest of the Atkins boys followed the discovery that fresh tracks led from the Loven barn to the Atkins place.

50 YEARS AGO

Feb. 14, 1972

■ Homer Simpson, a spokesman for the state Health Department, says the agency hopes to begin implementation of a program to combat venereal disease by April 1. Simpson, who will help head the program, said the Department hoped to present an application for more than $150,000 in federal funds by March 1. Newsweek magazine reported last month that a survey showed Arkansas ranked seventh in the country in reported cases of syphilis per 100,000 population and eighth in gonorrhea. Simpson said the Health Department currently has seven investigators to cover the state and he hopes to have six or eight more through the federal funding. Simpson said a big problem is that four of five females who have venereal disease have no symptoms.

25 YEARS AGO

Feb. 14, 1997

ROGERS — A young man with a teardrop tattoo under one eye robbed the branch of First National Bank at Dixieland Mall early Thursday, then fled with a white plastic bag full of money. The suspect walked into the bank about 9:45 a.m. and gave a teller a handwritten note that said, “I have a gun. Give me the money,” said Wayne Jordan, Arkansas State Police spokesman. The suspect shoved an undisclosed amount of money into the bag before running outside and into a field behind the mall, Jordan said. The suspect left the note at the bank at Walnut Street and Dixieland Road. Authorities also have surveillance camera photographs of the suspect. No one in the bank saw a gun or was injured, Jordan said.

10 YEARS AGO

Feb. 14, 2012

■ A $100,000 contribution approved by the North Little Rock City Council on Monday will help construct a conference center next to the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame inside Verizon Arena for public use. Aldermen voted 8-0 to authorize an agreement between the Sports Hall of Fame and the city that will give the city priority over noncontributing entities to use the center. The $2.239 million conference center will complete an unused portion of the arena. The Sports Hall of Fame received a $1 million federal grant in December 2010 from the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce for the construction. The Sports Hall of Fame has been trying to raise the additional money.