100 years ago
Aug. 9, 1920
CONWAY -- The farm club rally which closed yesterday was one of the most successful ever held in the state, it was said today by officials. There were 172 boys and girls registered, and many spent the three days with relatives here, with out registering. The total attendance reached over 200.
50 years ago
Aug. 9, 1970
CONWAY -- The president of the company that manufactures Arkansas automobile license plates termed Attorney General Joe Purcell's proposal for inmates in the state's prisons to manufacture the tags "impractical." J.P. Stoltz, president of Metal Stamping Corporation of Conway, said that it would cost the state in excess of $500,000 for the building and equipment.
25 years ago
Aug. 9, 1995
• PINE BLUFF -- A new obstacle has come into play at Jaycees Golf Course at Oakland Park: armed bandits. Since early July, three golfers in two separate incidents have been robbed at gunpoint as they played the seventh hole on the public course. According to police reports, Mike Costello, 43, of Pine Bluff recently was robbed of his wallet and car keys as he played the par-five seventh hole. He told police that two men walked out of the woods near the hole and robbed him. The men were reportedly carrying a rifle. About a month earlier, two golfers were robbed near the same location. Mike Drewett, director of the city's Parks and Recreation Department, said the two robberies occurred during slow periods on the course. "They hit us in the midafternoons on weekdays when it's real hot and there are not as many people out there," he said.
10 years ago
Aug. 9, 2010
• Marion County was dry for nearly 60 years before voters legalized alcohol sales four years ago. Now, a group wants portions of the county to go dry again. Citizens for a Dry Marion County gathered enough voter signatures in nine of the county's 35 voter precincts to place a measure on the November ballot that would outlaw alcohol sales in those nine precincts, Marion County and Circuit Clerk Dee Carleton said Friday. The owner of a liquor store in one of the precincts said she believes the effort is simply a move to put her out of business. Hilltop Liquor is one of four package-liquor stores in Marion County and the only one inside one of the targeted precincts. Owner Debra Killian said a member of the Citizens for a Dry Marion County committee, Walter McNew, is behind the effort. McNew, a farmer whose property abuts Hilltop Liquor, didn't immediately return phone messages left at his home. The state's chief alcoholic beverage regulator said 88 of the 90 eligible voters in the precinct where Hilltop Liquor sits signed petitions to put the dry measure on the ballot.