Other days

100 YEARS AGO Dec. 10, 1923

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new gas bearing zone of considerable importance has been developed in the East Smackover oil and gas field in Arkansas, according to indications observed in a recent investigation conducted by engineers of the Department of Interior attached to the Dallas office of the Bureau of Mines. The gas bearing formation is in the second productive zone, but lies immediately above the main second zone sand, which is producing oil in the West Smackover field, a statement from the Interior Department declared. Designated as the “Primm gas zone” by Bureau of Mines engineers to distinguish it from the “Meekin” sand, a name applied to the main second zone oil sand of the West Smackover field, this field was first discovered on the Primm field.

50 YEARS AGO Dec. 10, 1973

■ The state Board of Education Sunday night denied a request by the Pine Bluff School District to have the district’s vocational education program designated as an area vocational-technical high school. Pine Bluff school officials earlier had told members of the Board’s subcommittee on vocational education that the request was motivated purely by financial interests. If designated an area high school, the facility would have been eligible for state funding. State guidelines for area vocational high schools specify that the schools be open to students from neighboring school districts. Pine Bluff was asking for an exception to that guideline.

25 YEARS AGO Dec. 10, 1998

■ Reacting to concerns over a new city ordinance, Little Rock officials put out a fact sheet Wednesday to clarify a ban on discharging bows within the city limits. City Ordinance No. 17,877, passed Dec. 1 by the city Board of Directors, clarified an ordinance to specifically include archery equipment in a ban on discharging weapons within the city by unauthorized people. The action followed complaints by residents who lived near woods, where they said bow hunters came too close to their property. City directors called it a public safety concern and passed an emergency clause making the law effective immediately. It allows bow use in law enforcement and permitted pest extermination and at public or private shooting ranges.

10 YEARS AGO Dec. 10, 2013

■ A special meeting of the Little Rock Sanitary Sewer Committee has been called for today to discuss personnel issues arising from the revelation that a top wastewater official has been living at a treatment facility. … Committee Chairman Ken Griffey called the meeting the same day the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette published an article about a high-ranking utility manager living rent-free on sewage-plant property. “We’ll discuss personnel issues as we head into our year-end and, of course, I’m sure, [personnel matters] related to the article,” Griffey said Monday.