100 years ago
May 10, 1924
R. A. Cook was elected exalted cyclops of the Little Rock Ku Klux Klan in a hotly contested campaign and election, which did not end until 2 o’clock yesterday morning, according to authentic reports, which said the result of the election was a rebuke to the administration of James A. Comer, grand dragon of Arkansas and retiring cyclops. George W. Emerson, attorney, A. O. U. W. building, was elected assistant cyclops defeating Earl D. Kidder, attorney. Both were opposed to the Comer regime, as also were Mr. Cook and Dr. Otto Whitington, pastor of Immanuel Baptist church, defeated candidate for exalted cyclops. … It was said the main feature of the election was the pre-election fight against the Comer administration, which was declared by opponents to be too autocratic and domineering. Mr. Comer was a candidate for cyclops until the morning of the election, when he withdrew his name in the face of increasing opposition.
50 years ago
May 10, 1974
Marijuana is the most widely used drug in central Arkansas and persons most likely to use marijuana and get arrested for it are white males between the ages of 14 and 25, according to a study started last summer by the Metropolitan Area Drug Abuse Prevention Program (MADAPP). MADAPP, which is part of the Community Council of Central Arkansas, is under contract with Metroplan and the state Drug Abuse Authority to compile a “data retrieval system” on drug abuse in Central Arkansas. … The survey showed that after marijuana, the next most abused drugs were depressants such as sleeping pills.
25 years ago
May 10, 1999
Disconnected rubber seals in a drive shaft and a bilge pump appear to have caused the sinking of an amphibious tour boat in Lake Hamilton on May 1, federal investigators said Sunday after raising the boat. Coast Guard, Navy and National Transportation Safety Board officials got their first look at the boat — the Miss Majestic — Sunday after lifting it by crane from the lake’s floor 60 feet below. The boat sank seven minutes after entering the water May 1, killing 13 of the 21 people aboard.
10 years ago
May 10, 2014
The Arkansas Department of Education has for the first time identified individual low-performing schools as being in “academic distress,” putting the schools in jeopardy of closure and their districts in jeopardy of state takeover. … The 32 schools include eight in the Little Rock School District, as well as three campuses in each of the Forrest City, Pulaski County Special and Pine Bluff school districts. One open-enrollment charter school — Covenant Keepers Charter School in Little Rock — is also on the list. … John Hoy, assistant commissioner for public school accountability, said Friday that the state is labeling individual schools for the first time on the basis of a 2013 state law — Arkansas Code 6-15-428 — and accompanying emergency rules approved by the state Education Board last month.
