100 years ago May 23, 1914
FORT SMITH -- A plan to furnish employment to "confirmed" drunkards so they can support their families while they are serving sentences imposed in Police Court, is vigorously urged in the annual report of Mayor Henry C. Read made public today. The mayor suggests the city obtain the old United States jail here to carry out his scheme. He also urges securing permission from the government to sell the City park and use the proceeds in establishing other parks where they will do more good.
50 years ago May 23, 1964
• District Fire Chief Jack Justice turned into a firebug today at an old, condemned house at 1811 Chester to show a group of rookie firemen how to douse a roaring fire in 15 seconds with a homemade fog applicator. The Housing Authority which acquired the property in an Urban Renewal program turned the three-room shotgun shack over to the department for training purposes. About a dozen rookie firemen participated. Most of them have been fighting fires with experienced crews during their short time as firemen and today's demonstration was designed to examine the problems of fighting a house fire.
25 years ago May 23, 1989
FAYETTEVILLE -- Chainsaws buzzed throughout Fayetteville's historic district as workers tried to dig the city out form under a deluge of timber downed by high winds early Monday. The storm left a path one-half mile wide and seven miles long of downed trees and power lines, stretching from the U.S. 71 bypass at Arkansas 16 on the western edge of Fayetteville past Mount Sequoyah east of town. Although tornadoes were reportedly spotted near Fayetteville, Gravette and Eureka Springs during the storm, the National Weather Service said none touched ground.
10 years ago May 23, 2004
• After a dormant year, a new issue of The Oxford American is set to hit newsstands in November, thanks to a nearly half-million-dollar investment by the University of Central Arkansas. The university announced on Saturday its purchase of the critically acclaimed Southern magazine, formerly based in Oxford, Miss., and Little Rock. "Having The Oxford American on campus underlies what a university experience is about," said UCA President Lu Hardin. The university will buy the magazine for $490,000, according to a contract signed May 17 by UCA officials and Oxford American Editor in Chief Marc Smirnoff.
Metro on 05/23/2014