Other days
100 YEARS AGO Feb. 28, 1923
ZINC — The three Lawborn brothers of this place are opening up a lead prospect at the old Ben Harrison mine between Dodd City and Zinc. The most important discovery is a deposit of drybone, or carbonate of lead, which other operators of the mine probably did not consider ore… The brothers have installed hand jigs with which to wash and concentrate the ore, and that the first day’s work netted 1,500 pounds. There is several months’ supply of crude ore in sight. Lead ore is worth around $100 a ton.
50 YEARS AGO Feb. 28, 1973
■ The proposed highway program endorsed by Governor Bumpers, which would use a gasoline tax increase and federal revenue sharing funds for highway construction, appeared in the state Senate Tuesday carrying the signatures of seven sponsors… It would raise about $30 million a year for road construction, $12 million coming from a 1-cent increase in motor fuel taxes and $18 million from federal revenue sharing money. Of the $30 million, $6 million would be shared with counties on a 50-50 matching basis to build rural roads.
25 YEARS AGO Feb. 28, 1998
■ The Little Rock Board of Directors agreed Tuesday to spend $131,000 to help businesses owned by members of a minority group and small businesses become qualified for city contracts. The city will enter into a one-year contract with the Pulaski Enterprise Community Alliance. The alliance provides services and economic support for residents and businesses in an enterprise zone which includes downtown Little Rock, downtown North Little Rock and surrounding low-income neighborhoods. Terms of the agreement with the city call for the alliance to provide bonding and technical support for small and minority-owned businesses throughout Little Rock… The city had planned to offer bond training services through an arrangement with the Arkansas Regional Minority Supplier Development Council. The city sought out another agency to provide the training when the development council joined with black leaders to file a lawsuit against the city claiming discrimination against black businesses.
10 YEARS AGO Feb. 28, 2013
■ El Dorado oil executive Wade Murphy will donate $1 million to support the Wake Forest University Humanities Institute, the university said Wednesday, making him the youngest person in the university’s history to give a gift of that size. Murphy, a 2000 graduate with a history degree from Wake Forest in North Carolina, is the executive vice president of El Dorado-based Marmik Oil. The Humanities Institute was started in October of 2010 “to foster interdisciplinary and collaborative scholarship and explore creative ways to use knowledge to solve real-world problems,” the university said in a news release… “Wake Forest is and always has been a place that teaches students how to identify and pursue that which is good, beautiful and true,” Murphy said in a statement. “One of the prevailing reasons I want to support the Humanities Institute is that it will go a long way to ensuring that these ideals are carried forward.”