100 years ago
May 8, 1914
• The American District Telegraph Company of Arkansas has accepted the franchise ordinance recently passed by the City Council, filing its bond for $2,000 with City Clerk Frank M. Oliver. The company proposes to establish a burglar, police and fire alarm system by means of call boxes.
50 years ago
May 8, 1964
• Tentative plans for a new police and courts building were submitted Thursday to the Jacksonville City Council for approval by Farrell and Robinson, architects for the project. The 40 by 60 foot building will cover approximately 2,400 square feet and will contain a courtroom, jail and police administration facilities. The building will be added to the south side of the present jail and no windows are called for in the plans.
25 years ago
May 8, 1989
SPRINGDALE -- For years, a statue of Popeye the sailor stood in sturdy testimony to spinach that was canned at a factory a few yards away. "I yam what I yam," the cartoon seaman proclaims, but he isn't anymore -- at least not on a pedestal where the 7-foot, 200-pound fiberglass statue has been an eye-catching landmark since 1967. Popeye has been stolen. The statue was apparently swiped early Thursday from the front yard of Allen Canning Co.'s warehouse on North Thompson Street, said James Weigel, the warehouse manager. Weigel suspects local students took Popeye as a prank. Accordingly, he asked officials to announce during Thursday's classes that no charges would be filed if the statue is returned. But by Sunday, the sailor was still unaccounted for, said Jay Melekian, a dispatcher for the Springdale Police Department. He said officers have "no leads, no clues and no cans of spinach lying around."
10 years ago
May 8, 2004
• The secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced Friday plans to open eight new community-based outpatient clinics in Arkansas by 2012. The decision will allow many veterans to get primary care closer to home. The new clinics will be in Searcy, Conway, Pine Bluff, Russellville, Mena, Ozark, Wynne and Phillips County. The first to open will be the Mena clinic in July. "There will be dramatic improvements for access to primary care, especially for veterans living in rural areas," Veterans Secretary Anthony Principi told an audience in Las Vegas and reporters in a telephone conference call.
Metro on 05/08/2014