Other days
100 YEARS AGO Feb. 15, 1924
■ Spurgeon Ruck and William (“Son”) Bettis, Crawford county negroes condemned to death in the electric chair for the murder of Mrs. Effie Latimer of Van Buren, were not electrocuted at dawn this morning, as the courts had ordered, but they escaped death, temporarily at least, by a narrow margin. At 6 o’clock last night an order from the Arkansas Supreme Court, staying the execution, was received at the penitentiary walls. The order was obtained by Scipio Jones, local negro lawyer representing the condemned men, only after it appeared that the two were to be executed because of a mistake in delivering a packet by mail.
50 YEARS AGO Feb. 15, 1974
VAN BUREN — The City Council has voted to remove parking meters from downtown after merchants reported an increase in business since a free parking trial program was initiated six months ago. The Council ordered the the meters covered. C. J. Franklin, a Van Buren businessman who headed a committee to study the results, told the Council that at least 85% of the downtown merchants wanted meters removed because of the “marked increase” in sales.
25 YEARS AGO Feb. 15, 1999
■ After a quarter-century helping victims of sexual assault, Rape Crisis Inc. is shutting down, a victim in a battle for funding. The organization’s board announced at a general membership meeting Feb. 9 that it would be closing its doors upon the April retirement of its executive director, Margaret Matthew. … Rape Crisis provides support groups for sexually assaulted women, crisis intervention service, referral to community agencies and legal advocacy. … Last May, as in years past, the staff submitted a grant application to the Crime Victims Assistance Grants Program, requesting $55,504.40 for fiscal 1998. But this time, the request was denied. … The agency chosen to receive the Crime Act money — the Family Service Agency’s Central Arkansas Sexual Assault Center — held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in November 1998 and opened Jan. 1.
10 YEARS AGO Feb. 15, 2014
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has nominated former Arkansan Jane Chu to be chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts. Chu has been president and chief executive officer of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City since 2006. … Chu graduated from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music and music education in 1979. … Chu is the daughter of Finley Chu and his wife, Rosemary Chu. Her father served as chairman of the university’s economics and business department until his death in 1967. Rosemary “Mom” Chu served more than 42 years as residence hall director of Frances Crawford Hall West before retiring in 2009. The Mom Chu House in Gosser Hall is named in her honor. Chu grew up on the Ouachita campus and is a former Miss OBU, according to the university.