100 years ago
Sept. 21, 1922
HEBER SPRINGS -- Clarence D. Still, charged with being an accessory to the murder of Dillard Wilburn, a World War veteran, was acquitted by a jury in Circuit Court here today. The jurors deliberated but 20 minutes. Wilburn was killed in February 1921. His body was not found until several days later. Still, Winslow Robinson, and George Earl Haskins, brothers, were arrested as suspects. Robinson confessed and is now is serving a 21-year penitentiary sentence. In the confession Still was exonerated. Robinson said the actual killing was done by the Hawkins brothers. They have never been tried, however, having escaped from the county jail here soon after their arrest.
50 years ago
Sept. 21, 1972
• The state Highway Commission Wednesday awarded two contracts totaling $3,812,381.98 for the paving of almost five miles on Interstate 430, which will virtually complete the bypass route from West Markham to Interstate 40 west of North Little Rock. Both contracts were awarded to the Ben M. Hogan Co. of Little Rock. The first, for $1,226,065.03, is to pave 1.9 miles from the Arkansas River Bridge, under construction, to the interchange with Interstate 40 west of North Little Rock. The second, for $2,586,326.95, is to pave 2.9 miles from West Markham Street to the bridge. When the two projects are completed ... all that will be left to be done north of Markham will be the installation of signs and landscaping, plus completion of the bridge.
25 years ago
Sept. 21, 1997
WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Janet Reno has embarked on a legal review that could lead to naming an independent counsel to investigate President Clinton's fund raising, the White House said Saturday. The 30-day initial review marks the first step in a legal process that could trigger a criminal review of whether Clinton improperly solicited campaign donations in the White House. Clinton's legal and political advisers, who insisted the president did nothing improper, predicted nothing would come of the Justice Department's initial inquiry. ... Questions about the presidential team's fund raising have swirled in Washington since the waning weeks of the 1996 election. Republicans have pushed for months for Reno to seek an independent counsel to take the case out of the hands of the Clinton administration's Justice Department.
10 years ago
Sept. 21, 2012
• The Nature Conservancy of Arkansas has purchased almost 2,000 acres of woodland on the north side of Beaver Lake in Northwest Arkansas, including 3 miles of undeveloped shoreline along the lake, for $3.9 million. The land is south of the Gateway community. The Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission plans to buy the land from the conservancy to add it to the state's System of Natural Areas. These areas -- about 58,000 acres across the state -- are acquired to protect rare animal species or plant life and to preserve the unique characteristics of the land. ... The property, known as the Devil's Eyebrow, includes limestone bluffs, oak woodlands, limestone glades and forests along the waterway. The area is also a well-known winter roosting spot for bald eagles, according to the commission's site report.