100 years ago
Feb. 23, 1918
FORT SMITH -- An injunction was today granted against the Rev. J.M. Carroll, restraining him from representing himself as pastor of the Bethlehem Baptist church of this city. Carroll was ousted some time ago, after being convicted on the charge of practicing divine healing while pastor of that church. He and his followers then organized a new church under the same name. The expulsion of 12 of his flock from the original Bethlehem Baptist church was held by Chancellor W.A. Falconer to be illegal.
50 years ago
Feb. 23, 1968
EL DORADO -- Former state Prison Superintendent O.E. Bishop said Thursday that Arkansans had been given a distorted picture of the state penitentiary system. Bishop, a former Union County sheriff, told the El Dorado Civitan Club that three newspapers -- the Arkansas Gazette, the Arkansas Democrat and the Pine Bluff Commercial -- had given distorted views of the system. He said many improvements had been made at the prison while he was superintendent, but that these were never reported. He said the news media always had something bad or detrimental to say about the prison system.
25 years ago
Feb. 23, 1993
• A Pulaski County Jail inmate awaiting a mental examination was freed Monday -- a month after his bond for vehicular manslaughter was revoked for allegedly threatening court staff. Patrick Keith Handy, 27, was allowed to go free on the same bond he had posted previously. Pulaski County Circuit Judge John Plegge also relieved defense attorney Greg Weaver and appointed Andrew Beavers to the case. Beavers said Handy would live with his father in Sweet Home, as was the case Jan. 20 when a substitute judge ordered him arrested and held for an emergency hearing.
10 years ago
Feb. 23, 2008
• A Trumann man was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for leading a drug trafficking organization that prosecutors say transported, manufactured and distributed methamphetamine in northeast Arkansas for nine years. John Pascal Soward, 37, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and weapons charges on Sept. 13, admitting to U.S. District Judge James Moody that he held a leadership role in an organization that transported methamphetamine from California to Arkansas for distribution, and also manufactured the drug. U.S. Attorney Jane Duke said law enforcement officers seized 77 guns used during the drug-trafficking activities, including a submachine gun and two silencers.
Metro on 02/23/2018