Other days

100 years ago

Dec. 31, 1920

FORT SMITH -- Sale of the Clear Creek Oil and Gas Company's wells and pipe lines in the Williams and Kibler fields of Crawford county to the Crow Oil and Gas Company was announced here this afternoon. The consideration was not given, but is in excess of $350,000. The sale gives the Crow company control of about 116,000,000 feet of daily production, out of a total of 198,000,000 feet in the two fields. The Wild Cat Oil and Gas Company controls the remainder. The Crow company is now under control of S. H. Hale of Kansas City and the Stryker brothers of Fredonia, Kan., who acquired a seven-eighths interest in the concern several months ago.

50 years ago

Dec. 31, 1970

• Little Rock Police Chief Gale F. Weeks said Wednesday that "organized crime elements," which he described as "the Dixie Mafia," a Southern "offshoot" of the Mafia were operating in Pulaski County and other areas of Arkansas. Weeks said the Dixie Mafia operated behind "legitimate businesses" and dealt in such activities as "loan-sharking," prostitution, confidence games, gambling, extortion and large burglaries. The Police Department has made some arrests of criminals connected with the Dixie Mafia, Weeks said, but he refused to name them or the specific incidents, other than to say that they involved extortion and burglary.

25 years ago

Dec. 31, 1995

• When James McDougal bought President Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton's interest in Whitewater Development Corp., he did so with money loaned by James Blair, one of the Clintons' closest friends. Blair, confirming an account by Newsweek magazine, said Saturday that he loaned McDougal $1,000 in December 1992 to buy out the Clintons. Blair said he did so because he didn't believe it was a "good idea for the business relationship to continue" after then-President-elect Clinton left Arkansas for Washington.

10 years ago

Dec. 31, 2010

• A tunnel is slowly collapsing under a parking lot in Eureka Springs, causing the pavement over two parking spaces to sag, and the mayor of Eureka Springs and the county judge in Carroll County are arguing over who should pay to repair it. If an agreement isn't reached, the city may abandon the offices it has had for the past 102 years on the first floor of the Eureka Springs Courthouse, Mayor Dani Joy said. Carroll County owns the parking lot, located between its Western District courthouse in Eureka Springs and the city's auditorium.

Upcoming Events