Other days
100 YEARS AGO May 17, 1922
EL DORADO — The great gas well on the Murphy farm, eight miles north of El Dorado, which last night was estimated to be making 150,000,000 cubic feet of gas a day, caught fire shortly after 5 o’clock this morning from the surrounding small craters. Flames were thrown up more than 200 feet into the air, and the country for several miles around was almost as light as day. The gasser is said to be the largest in the world.
50 YEARS AGO May 17, 1972
FORT SMITH — Southwestern Bell Telephone Company officials said here Tuesday that a direct line to alert working operators of tornado sightings has been installed at the firm here. Forrest Reynolds, manager of the office here, said the line would enable the Police Department to inform on-duty telephone operators of tornadoes in the area so that operators could leave their switchboards and go to the basement. The line was installed following a week-long “information strike” by operators who criticized company policy that they could not leave their switchboards when “take cover” sirens sounded in Fort Smith. Operators said that other employees of the firm were permitted to go to the basement, but they were not.
25 YEARS AGO May 17, 1997
ROGERS — After getting their eyes checked, picking up a prescription and grabbing a Big Mac, shoppers at the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Rogers will soon be able to gas up their cars at a fully-automated fuel station in the store’s parking lot. In an effort to expand the one-stop shopping concept, Bentonville-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has teamed up with an independent Denver-based oil and gas company to build “pay-at-the-pump” stations at selected Wal-Mart sites across the country. Gary-Williams Retail Co., a subsidiary of Gary-Williams Energy Co., opened the first outlet at a Wal-Mart store in the Denver suburb of Highlands Ranch last July. The outlet comprises six pumps with 12 fueling positions. … “In times when frequently escalating gasoline prices attract nationwide concern, the low-cost automated pump operation can cut expenses which otherwise would come out of the consumer’s pocket,” the release said. The gas company will install a telephone at each automated location, so if customers have questions, help is only a toll-free call away.
10 YEARS AGO May 17, 2012
■ Nearly seven months after first pitching its tents, the Occupy Little Rock movement lost its home Wednesday afternoon. Warned by the city in late April to have the political protest camp evacuated by 7 a.m. Wednesday, the Occupy Little Rock camp was cleared out and four of its members arrested after they politely refused to vacate the city-owned lot they have used since late October.