100 YEARS AGO March 28, 1914
Spring has come for certain. One might have thought it from the temperature and the budding trees but yesterday an infallible sign appeared in the post office. It was a man wearing a straw hat. True, it was a left-over or a comeback, to use hotel parlance, meaning a last year’s lid, but it was a straw hat just the same.
50 YEARS AGO March 28, 1964
HOT SPRINGS - Police Chief John Ermey, with the threat of state action behind him, told owners of the illegal multi-million dollar gambling operation here to close after tonight’s take. Ermey’s announcement came Friday night, several hours after Gov. Faubus warned that if the city did not close the casinos, state troopers would be sent in to do the job. The U.S. Justice Department launched an investigation of gambling here several weeks ago, and labeled it the biggest illegal gambling operation in the nation. Faubus axed wide open gambling one day after the Arkansas House adopted 91 to 3 a resolution condemning the gambling and calling on Garland County officials to shut down their biggest industry.
25 YEARS AGO March 28, 1989
The state has admitted an anti-integration provision of its constitution violates federal law. Amendment 44 requires state legislators to oppose the 1954 and 1955 U.S. Supreme Court decisions striking down school segregation. It was approved as an initiated act by voters with the support of Sen. Jim Johnson, who sought to unseat Gov. Orval Faubus in the 1956 campaign. Johnson later became an associate justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court. Documents filed Thursday in federal court at Little Rock by Attorney General Steve Clark could lead to the removal of the amendment from the state constitution.
10 YEARS AGO March 28, 2004
Daily doses of highway drama prompted John Bailey to upgrade to a V-8. The easygoing builder, 44, used to enjoy the drive from Fayetteville to work in Bentonville. But his 1988 four-cylinder pickup couldn’t keep up on Interstate 540, so he became a target for drivers in a bigger hurry. Aggressive driving is causing accidents in Washington and Benton counties. Last week the Arkansas State Police began a special assignment to curb it. Troopers on “stealth patrol” in unmarked vehicles outfitted with video cameras are targeting motorists engaging in flagrant combinations of speeding, tailgating and impulsive lane changes.
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 03/28/2014