100 years ago
July 1, 1920
• A self-appointed committee of Cotton Belt and Missouri Pacific employees tonight met the Rev. J.P. Aregood and J.S. Eubanks, a representative of the Yardmen's Association, both of St. Louis, and escorted them to the edge of Pine Bluff. After reaching the city's outskirts, several members of the "committee" began undressing the orators, while others were cutting switches from nearby hickory trees. Partly stripped, the men were placed in the proper attitude to receive the lashes that followed. The whipping received by the St. Louisians was not severe -- just enough force was behind the lashes to impress upon the recipients that Pine Bluff was no place for them.
50 years ago
July 1, 1970
• Two Little Rock men charged with burglary and assault with intent to kill in an encounter with North Little Rock policemen early Friday were bound over to Circuit Court Tuesday in North Little Rock Municipal Court. Hershel (Sonny) Jones, 28, of 1334 Base Line road and Odis Watson Jr., 28, of 2522 Moss Street were taken to the County Jail, where they were being held in lieu of $3,500 bond each.
25 years ago
July 1, 1995
• Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the most aggressive opponent of the any-willing-provider law passed during the last legislative session, asked a judge Friday to kill the measure. Twenty-nine days before the law is scheduled to take effect, Blue Cross filed suit in federal court in Little Rock asking that the law be declared unconstitutional because it violates the company's due process rights. Blue Cross contends that the any-willing-provider law interferes with insurance companies' freedom to make contracts by forcing them to enter into unwanted agreements. The law would open health-care plans to any doctor who met certain qualifications. The law's proponents quickly defended it. "For starters, this whole suit is absolutely ludicrous," said David Wroten, assistant executive vice president of the Arkansas Medical Society, a chief proponent of the legislation.
10 years ago
July 1, 2010
• The operator of a "30 Minute Clinic" inside the Wal-Mart Supercenter on Base Line Road in Little Rock contends in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday that the retailer illegally terminated his lease because it dislikes the patients who visit the clinic "based upon their race and socioeconomic status." The seven-day-a-week clinic, which provides basic medical services, is one of two branches of the for-profit Maumelle Medical Clinic, which is operated by Jerry Poole. It opened on Nov. 2, after Poole learned that Wal-Mart was leasing space for medical clinics in about 25 stores throughout the country, including five in central Arkansas, according to the lawsuit filed in Little Rock.