100 years ago
Feb. 18, 1924
El DORADO -- Fire early today destroyed an entire block in the heart of Louann, oil boom town between Smackover and Camden, and caused a loss estimated at between $35,000 and $40,000. Among the buildings destroyed were the post office and the Missouri Pacific railway station. A dozen small store buildings were consumed. The fire originated in a cafe about 7 o'clock. Efforts of the volunteer Fire Department to check the flames were of little avail and the fire was permitted to burn itself out.
50 years ago
Feb. 18, 1974
The number of legal abortions performed in Arkansas increased more than 43 per cent between 1972 and 1973, according to state Health Department statistics. There were 793 legal abortions performed in Arkansas in 1972 and 1,138 last year. The United States Supreme Court on January 22, 1973, ruled that abortions should be a matter between a woman and her physician, and the state could not impose any legal restrictions on reasons for performing abortion during the first six months of pregnancy. But the state Health Department still classifies reasons for obtaining abortions under the categories established by Arkansas's 1969 abortion law. During 1973, as in 1972, more abortions were performed because the pregnancy represented a danger to the mother's mental health than for all other reasons combined.
25 years ago
Feb. 18, 1999
ASH FLAT -- When a Horsebend police officer stopped a 17-year-old motorist last month and saw that his driver's license looked odd, the officer thought he had gathered more evidence in a case against an Izard County man who had made fictitious identification cards. But the license turned out to be real although the word Arkansas across the top was slightly larger than normal and the last "s" was missing. Officials said the error was the result of a computer glitch in Sharp County's state Revenue Division office computer. The programming error caused the problem only in duplicated licenses that were sold for $5 to motorist who either lose their original license or need to make name or address changes.
10 years ago
Feb. 18, 2014
A Florida investment group contends that Mountain Pure and its criminally indicted chief owe it almost $500,000 and has petitioned a Pulaski County Circuit Court judge to put the Little Rock-based water bottler into receivership. Appointing a receiver to run Mountain Pure, which has plants in Mississippi and Texas, and its affiliates is "necessary and proper" to make sure the water bottler continues to operate in the face of its legal problems while protecting the investor group's interest, according to the Feb. 7 lawsuit before Judge Chris Piazza. Those legal problems are the wire-fraud indictment against John Stacks and a December lawsuit against the company and its affiliates by a cardboard packaging manufacturer from Georgia that claims it's owed $224,661, according to the petition filed by North Bay Investors LTD.