100 years ago
July 2, 1917
• SEARCY -- E.L. Benton was shot and probably fatally wounded this morning by E. T. Scruggs in the Bobinson church near Floyd, 12 miles from Searcy, during church services. Benton was wounded several times, and is believed to be dying at his home in the country near the church. Scruggs is held in the county jail here, pending the outcome of Benton's wounds. According to witnesses of the shooting, the two men were in the church, and no quarreling had preceded the shooting. Near the end of the morning service, they say, Scruggs suddenly rose from his seat, drew a revolver and fired four times at Benton without saying anything.
50 years ago
July 2, 1967
• FAYETTEVILLE -- Guy H. (Buddy) Lackey, a Mountain View businessman, has been elected national president of the University of Arkansas Alumni Association and James B. (Deacon) Sharp, a Brinkley attorney, was elected national president of the Endowment and Trust Fund, and arm of the association. John M. Rosso, executive director of the Association and the Fund, said that both men began their one-year terms Saturday.
25 years ago
July 2, 1992
• BENTON -- Carl Lafayette Meny, 36, of Hot Spring County was convicted and sentenced Wednesday to three life prison terms for the Nov. 14, 1991, kidnapping and rape of Tyson Efird, 18, of Malvern. "That was the hardest thing I ever did, telling -- in front of all my friends and people I know -- what that man did to me," Efird said Wednesday about his three hours of testimony Tuesday. Authorities are holding Meny without bond, pending his appeal. In his testimony, Efird described being a prisoner in Meny's home from about 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 14, to after midnight on Wednesday, Nov. 20.
10 years ago
July 2, 2007
• CONWAY -- Halee Cost hopes she doesn't have to live through another winter like the last one, when her low-lying front yard iced over and her septic tank malfunctioned. "About a week in the winter we could not use our bathroom," the mother of two small children recalled last week as she stood outside her small home near Lake Conway. Cost looks forward to a much-awaited sewage system -- specifically, the first phase in a long-term project aimed at eventually serving roughly 1,900 homes encircling the 6,700-acre lake between Conway and Mayflower. Already, the system, which initially would extend to 295 residences, is more than five months behind schedule.
Metro on 07/02/2017