100 years ago
Aug. 23, 1914
• There must be 23 or more children of age in a town before a special school district may be formed, Attorney General Moose held yesterday in an opinion written for the mayor of Labelle in Drew county. The special school district act makes no provision of this character, Judge Moose pointed out, but authority for his ruling is given in the act regulating the formation of any school district.
50 years ago
Aug. 23, 1964
• Winthrop Rockefeller, Republican candidate for governor, rode with his wife in the White River Water Carnival parade Saturday morning and shook hands at the Catfish Day picnic afterwards at Riverside Park. He was introduced at the picnic, mounted a truck-bed stage and spoke briefly. Rockefeller's beleaguered campaign bus was scheduled to appear in the parade if the repair shop finished with it in time. The bus never made it. The GOP candidate blamed "those Faubus freeways" (rural back roads) for the vehicle's chronic mechanical failures.
25 years ago
Aug. 23, 1989
• Employees of Stein Mart Inc. at 6823 Cantrell Road arrived at work Tuesday morning to find the parking lot covered with garbage from an early morning food fight. Students from Hall High School held the melee, described by one student as an "icebreaker" for incoming sophomores at the school. Since at least the beginning of the 1980s, seniors at the school have "kidnapped" incoming sophomore girls and "slopped" them, said Katy Harpole, 17. Harpole is a senior at the school who didn't participate in the event but was at the scene to take pictures for the school's yearbook and newspaper. Harpole said the annual slopping is a traditional event and parents of the victims approve. Before the slopping takes place, seniors "go to the grocery store and get whatever's gross," she said.
10 years ago
Aug. 23, 2004
• Black legislators, ministers and activists filled the state Capitol steps Sunday asking prosecutors to correct a criminal justice system that they say often offers plea agreements and probation to whites while putting blacks in prison. "African-Americans are not inherently criminal people," said state Sen. Hank Wilkins, D-Pine Bluff, standing at a lectern decorated with a sign that said "15/45." Simple numbers tell the story, Wilkins said. About 15 percent of Arkansas' residents are black, while they make up 45 percent of the prison population.
Metro on 08/23/2014