100 years ago
Dec. 15, 1923
COTTON PLANT --The officers were kept busy capturing stills around Cotton Plant today. Deputy Sheriffs Wade Jeffrey and Tom White captured a 200-gallon capacity still and 100 gallons of mash, eight miles east of Cotton Plant, in the wilds of White river bottoms, and later the same deputies, assisted by City Marshal Otis McConnel, captured a 500-gallon still and 300 gallons of mash near Hunter. The mash was destroyed and the still brought here. The same officers caught A. L. Melvin and his son transporting a large quantity of whiskey, it is alleged.
50 years ago
Dec. 15, 1973
BLYTHEVILLE --Five airmen at the Blytheville Air Force Base were arrested Friday for stealing food from the Base commissary, the Little Rock office of the FBI announced. They are all stationed at the Base, the FBI said. ... The amount stolen had a value of less than $100, the FBI said. The penalty for theft of government property valued under $100 is a $1,000 fine or one year in the federal penitentiary, or both. ... The arrest was the result of an investigation conducted buy the Office of Special Investigations at the Base and the FBI.
25 years ago
Dec. 15, 1998
MONTICELLO --A Drew County Circuit Court jury has awarded a former Wal-Mart employee $2.75 million after deciding that store officials in 1994 wrongly accused her of stealing $3,000. "That sends Wal-Mart a big message," said John Ogles of Jacksonville, one of two attorneys for Carolyn Binns. ... Binns had worked for 14 years at the Wal-Mart in Monticello, including 10 as layaway manager, when a loss-prevention officer accused her of stealing. She was fired and charged the next day with felony theft and falsifying a business record. Charges were dropped in June 1995, and a lawsuit against Wal-Mart was filed in January 1996.
10 years ago
Dec. 15, 2013
Cabot High School senior Kyle Cox woke up one morning in early November and scratched his head. He rubbed his eyes, then looked around his room for telltale signs that he was actually awake and not dreaming. The 16-year-old lumbered out of bed, then went to the kitchen in search of his mother. ... His mother, Donna Cox, is a nurse in the call center at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. The mail she collected when she got home early that morning included a notice that her son had earned a perfect composite score of 36 on the ACT exam. Accustomed to trading practical jokes with her, Kyle was skeptical when his mother told him the news. "I said, 'You're kidding me, right?' I didn't believe her. I thought she was just messing with me," Kyle said. There are only five other students in Arkansas who have earned a 36 -- the highest possible score -- in 2013. Nationally, only 1,162 of the 1.8 million test-takers in the high-school graduating class of 2013 earned the top score, according to ACT statistics. The average national score is 20.9 for 2013, with Arkansas coming in at 20.2.