100 years ago
June 27, 1914
• The trial was staged in the court of a local justice of the peace. The plaintiff, who had been injured in a minor accident, was represented by one of our lesser legal lights. The witness had told all he knew of the accident and his testimony was somewhat damaging to the cause of the plaintiff. The lesser legal light took the witness. "You say you seen the accident?" he asked truculently. "No," answered the witness, who had just described the accident minutely. "Do you sit there and tell about this accident and then deny you said you seen it?" shouted the lawyer. "I did not say that." "Then what did you say?" "I said I saw it." It required some moments to compose the courtroom.
50 years ago
June 27, 1964
FORT SMITH -- A gasoline storage tank erupted in flames here today, but quick action by a truck driver averted possible disaster. Gasoline was being pumped from a 6,000-gallon storage truck into the tank at a Skelly Oil Co. station when static electricity set off the blaze. V.G. Carr of Fort Smith hopped into the truck and drove it out of the fire. There were no injuries.
25 years ago
June 27, 1989
• Gov. Bill Clinton signed the Pulaski County school desegregation bill Monday, but opponents said it's not worth the paper it's printed on. "He didn't sign a bill. He signed a piece of paper. It's not a bill unless the House and Senate pass it," said Rep. Lloyd George of Danville, (Yell County), the measure's most vocal opponent. The bill was ruled dead in the House on a contested 50-43 vote Friday, but the Senate minutes later sent it to the governor. "I think it could set a dangerous precedent because we're not a unicameral Legislature yet," said Speaker of the House B.G. Hendrix of Fort Smith.
10 years ago
June 27, 2004
• A revision in state law that takes effect Thursday extends sales taxes in Arkansas to thousands of businesses, from the groomers who trim Fido's nails to the pest-control sprayers who kill his fleas. The consumer's cost for those services as well as trash pickup, vehicle towing and dry cleaning -- among others -- is likely to rise with the implementation of Act 107 of the Second Extraordinary Session of 2003. The new law, intended to raise money for public schools, increased the state sales tax to 6 percent and extended its reach to 15 types of services not currently taxed.
Metro on 06/27/2014