Other days

100 years ago

Jan. 22, 1919

PARAGOULD -- The body of Dovie Bartley, who mysteriously disappeared from the county poor farm on New Year's night, was found late Sunday afternoon near Johnson creek drainage canal, two and one-half miles north of Paragould. The discovery was made by two small boys who were hunting rabbits on the John Purcell farm, and the body was found not far from the spot where the body of Harry Skinner, who was murdered in a vacant house on the McDonald farm, was uncovered two years ago in a brush heap. The victim was feebleminded, it is said, and had been an inmate at the county farm for many years.

50 years ago

Jan. 22, 1969

• Four young men who had intended to pass out anti-Selective Service leaflets Monday afternoon at North Little Rock High School were beaten, apparently by students from the school. Their leader, Mike Mattin, 18, nursed a swollen jaw at home Tuesday instead of joining the draft protestors in distributing the leaflets downtown. Mattin and his wife Chriss, 20, came to Little Rock expressly to open an "Arkansas Peace Information Center," a goal they achieved over the holiday at 1609 South Park Avenue...Since then, they have passed out leaflets at Central, Hall and North Little Rock High Schools and elsewhere.

25 years ago

Jan. 22, 1994

• The state Highway and Transportation Department may revise its plans to destroy a rest area seven miles north of Waldron after public complaints. Officials tentatively reopened the Elm Park rest area on U.S. 71 near Arkansas 23 in Scott County in mid-January, although the restrooms remain padlocked. The agency targeted the 27-year-old park for closure because of frequent vandalism, the need for renovations and its inadequate sewage treatment system. It would cost the agency about $75,000 to upgrade Elm Park. Those who oppose closing Elm Park said the area is a popular picnic site for local residents, who also use it on travels to neighboring towns of Booneville and Paris, both in Logan County, or Fort Smith and Van Buren.

10 years ago

Jan. 22, 2009

• The two-day manslaughter trial of a Sherwood man who killed an intruder ended Wednesday with a hung jury and a new criminal charge against him after the testimony his 17-year-old son gave on the second day. The seven women and five men deliberated about four hours before reporting to Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims that they were irrevocably split 6-6 over a verdict on the lesser charge of negligent homicide, a misdemeanor. Larry Leroy Staley took the stand Wednesday to proclaim the October 2007 slaying of 18-year-old Brandon Cross an accident, telling the jury he must have unintentionally shot the teen when he fired a warning shot at another intruder...Staley maintains that Cross was one of four men who aimed to steal all-terrain vehicles from a shed next to his Arkansas 107 home during a late-night rainstorm.

Metro on 01/22/2019

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