100 years ago
Dec. 31, 1918
HARRISON -- Harrison enjoyed the first visit from airplanes today. The party consisted of Lieutenants Page, Hartman, Bonhag, Leuchman, and Sergeant Hodges in three airplanes from Eberts Field, Lonoke. The party was scheduled to arrive here yesterday from Fayetteville on the third leg of their trip, a distance of 61 miles. They landed at Berryville Saturday, however, by mistake and arrived here today. The fair ground thawed out yesterday and became so soft that they could not get off. They expect to resume their flight on the fourth leg to Batesville today, a distance of 86 miles.
50 years ago
Dec. 31, 1968
• Clarence Watkins, 37, a taxi driver, received a $200 government bond and a plaque Monday at the Police and Courts Building for his part in the capture of a robbery suspect October 9. ...Police Chief R.E. Brians ... said that Watkins notified the Black and White Taxi radio dispatcher of a robbery at the Gable Liquor Store at 824 Broadway at 11:10 p.m. October 9. Watkins then followed the suspect, who fled in a car, and relayed information to his dispatcher on the route of the suspect's car. ... The dispatcher conveyed the information to the police by telephone and the patrolmen were alerted. The suspect tried unsuccessfully to elude the taxi and officers captured the suspect at Seventeenth and High Streets.
25 years ago
Dec. 31, 1993
• The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in Pulaski County Circuit Court on Tuesday seeking to overturn a law approved by voters in November banning unmarried, cohabiting couples from adopting or fostering children. Almost immediately, the first legal skirmish began over which judge should hear the case. The lawsuit, which includes 29 adult and child plaintiffs from more than a dozen families, argues that the law violated federal and state constitutional rights to equal protection and due process. ...The case -- Cole v. Arkansas -- was assigned to Judge Timothy Fox, who overturned a state ban on gay foster parents in 2004. Initially, a computer had randomly assigned the case to Judge Chris Piazza, but the ACLU requested that the case be heard by Fox. ...Under the office's protocol, derived from an Arkansas Supreme Court order, deference is paid to a lawyer's request if the judge has heard a related case.
10 years ago
Dec. 31, 2008
• Rep. Dawn Creekmore, D-East End, on Tuesday filed a bill that would create the felony crime of smothering or strangulation. Under House Bill 1040, a person would commit that crime if he purposely and with the extreme indifference to the value of human life uses his hands or any other means or force to attempt to impede or impedes the normal breathing of another person or the circulation of another person's blood by applying pressure on the throat or neck of that person. Smothering or strangulation would be a Class C felony, which is punishable by three to 10 years in prison or a fine up to $10,000. ... Creekmore said some law-enforcement officers and prosecutors asked her to file the bill to list smothering or strangulation as a specific crime because it's difficult for them to file a battery charge when a mark is not left on a victim's body. "It gives them one more tool if there is no physical marking that most battery charges require," she said.
Metro on 12/31/2018