Other days

100 YEARS AGO April 20, 1923

BLYTHEVILLE — The condition of the city’s water supply is causing residents considerable apprehension, although everything possible is being done by the local Board of Health to remedy the situation. Dr. J. F. Sanders, chief health officer, has just returned from Little Rock, after a conference with state health officials. He said today that the germs found in the water are what are known as para-typhoid germs… He said that stringent efforts are being made to completely remove the infection from the water.

50 YEARS AGO April 20, 1973

■ Governor Bumpers Thursday proclaimed May 1 as Law Day in Arkansas and May 28 as Memorial Day. He urged the state to use Memorial Day as an occasion to honor the veterans returned from the Vietnam War… Mr. Bumpers recalled that as a lawyer in private practice he made numerous speeches around the state on Law Day, which celebrates the rule of law. Law Day was established by legal groups to counteract Russia’s May Day celebrations.

25 YEARS AGO April 20, 1998

VAN BUREN — Crawford County officials representing two cities and four water associations are reviewing an engineer’s report that a water supply could be created for $6.5 million to supply 20,548 residents with at least 2.76 million gallons a day. Such a supply also would remove Fort Smith’s control over county water consumption, County Judge Jerry Williams said Thursday… The cities of Mountainburg and Chester and the Pleasant View, Highway 71, Cedarville and Concord water users associations commissioned the report to gauge the feasibility of developing their own water supply rather than depend on Fort Smith. Williams and others have complained that Fort Smith charges them more for water than Fort Smith residents pay.

10 YEARS AGO April 20, 2013

■ If the 89th regular meeting of the Arkansas General Assembly comes to an end, as expected, Tuesday, it will go down in history as the longest since the Great Depression. Tuesday will mark the 100th day of the regular session, which opened on Jan. 15… The last legislative session to last at least 100 days was in 1931, amidst the Great Depression, when the 48th regular meeting of the General Assembly completed its work after 121 days. This session marked the first time since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era in the 19th century that the Republican Party controlled both legislative chambers. But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said the length of the session had less to do with the party in control than it did with the issues it tackled, none more complex than Medicaid expansion. Under legislation Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe is expected to sign into law Tuesday, more than 250,000 Arkansans who make about $15,000 a year or less will be able to purchase private health insurance using federal Medicaid money.