Other days
100 YEARS AGO May 2, 1922
■ Swarms of blackbirds this spring have invaded the corn fields in the Arkansas river bottoms and have played havoc with the growing grain. Many planters have found it necessary to plant twice. Mark Valentine of Galloway will plant a 50-acre field for the third time next week. Some planters put out poison for the birds, but most of them put boys out with shotguns to shoot into the flocks and to keep them moving. The blackbirds are so numerous this year that when they light in a field they sometimes sweep it almost clean.
50 YEARS AGO May 2, 1972
WASHINGTON — The Cooperative State Research Service has approved a grant of $112,440 to Arkansas AM and N College at Pine Bluff for a study comparing the aging poor and the economically secure in Jefferson County, the office of Senator J. William Fulbright (Dem., Ark.) announced Monday. It also was announced that the agency had approved a grant of $93,120 to AM and N to study the effects of family orientation on personal characteristics of college freshmen.
25 YEARS AGO May 2, 1997
FORT SMITH — The fraud section of the FBI’s Criminal Division is investigating OK Foods Inc., one of the two largest private employers in Fort Smith. Joseph S. Beck, an attorney with the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., said Thursday that about 30 FBI agents executed four search warrants Wednesday morning at four buildings belonging to the poultry producer. Beck would not say what the investigation was about. … He would say only that the investigation was continuing. Officials of OK Foods would not comment on the raid Thursday and referred inquiries to Scott Able, the company’s director of human resources. Able did not respond to requests for comment. … The company has been building a new corporate headquarters on Fort Smith’s north side and was rebuilding after arson fires at three of its local plant buildings in 1994 caused an estimated $10 million in damages.
10 YEARS AGO May 2, 2012
■ The city of Little Rock put a call out to neighborhood organizations Tuesday asking them to find ways to improve their blocks and bring together their neighbors in the process. Mayor Mark Stodola and other city staff members announced a challenge grant competition, called Love Your Block, that will award five $1,000 grants for neighborhood improvement projects in each of the city’s seven wards. … Staff members chose to hold the grant announcement in the Woodruff Community Gardens at Seventh and Brown streets in the Capital View/ Stifft Station neighborhood because the garden received several challenge grants during its development and has become a focal point for lessons at neighboring schools, volunteer work for neighborhood youth organizations and a place for neighbors looking for exercise and a sense of community. … The initiative is part of the larger Cities of Service program, which started in 2009, and includes more than 120 cities across the country. Little Rock was selected as one of about two dozen cities to receive a Cities of Service Leadership Grant in 2010.