Other days

2023-02-15 - ■ Imagine the thrill of being one of 350 winners out of 49,000 entries in a contest and you have an idea how Chere Payne feels. The Little Rock photographer was selected as one

100 YEARS AGO

Feb. 15, 1923

HARRISON — The Connerly hotel, a two-story frame building, was destroyed by fire discovered about 4:45 o’clock this morning. Officers believe the blaze was started by incendiaries. However, they had not picked up a tangible clue tonight. The hotel guests were forced to flee in their night clothing, as the fire had gained considerable headway when discovered. Practically all the contents of the building were destroyed.

50 YEARS AGO

Feb. 15, 1973

LONDON — Stanford University Professor William B. Shockley, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, said Wednesday a British University is withholding an honorary degree from him because of his racial views. He has expressed belief that as a whole, blacks are genetically inferior to whites. Shockley, at London to mark the 25th anniversary of his invention of the junction translator, said the University of Leeds would not confer on him a degree of honorary doctor of sciences as planned for May.

25 YEARS AGO

Feb. 15, 1998

■ Imagine the thrill of being one of 350 winners out of 49,000 entries in a contest and you have an idea how Chere Payne feels. The Little Rock photographer was selected as one of the prize winners in the International World Heritage Photo Competition. The worldwide contest was held in connection with the 25th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention sponsored by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Payne’s sepia-toned photograph of the medieval town of Mont-Saint-Michel, rising from the seaside on the northwest coast of France, won her the honors.

10 YEARS AGO

Feb. 15, 2013

FAYETTEVILLE — A 2010 voter-approved tax to fund construction on Fayetteville High School should not be diverted to other city projects, an attorney for the school district told the Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday. Fayetteville attorney Chris Lawson, who represented the school district in oral arguments before the court, said the ballot language for the 2.75-mill increase funding the project provided a clear purpose for the tax revenue. Lawson said a ruling on a previous lawsuit involving the city and the school district should not apply to the current case because of Act 2231, which was passed by the legislature in 2005, and amended the “total ad valorem rate” to exclude future increases in millage rates “if the additional money is pledged for repayment of a specific bond.”