Timeline Arkansas
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1722 Legend has
it that the Arkansas “Little Rock” rock was first discovered at this
time by the French explorer Jean Baptiste Benard de La Harpe. It was
the first outcropping of any size on an 118-mile stretch of the
Arkansas River.
(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123309302911621329.html)
1819 Mar 2, Territory of Arkansas
was organized. [see Jul 4]
(SC, 3/2/02)
1819 Jul 4, The Territory of
Arkansas was created. [see Mar 2]
(IB, Internet, 12/7/98)
1828 May 6, The Cherokee Indians
were forced to sign a treaty giving up their Arkansas Reservation for a
new home in what later became Oklahoma. This led to a split in the
tribe as one group moved to Oklahoma and others stayed behind and
became known as the Lost Cherokees.
(Econ, 3/11/06,
p.28)(http://digital.library.okstate.edu/KAPPLER/Vol2/treaties/che0288.htm)
1832 Congress set aside the
thermal springs at Hot Springs, Ark., as a federal reservation.
(USAT, 2/4/04, p.9A)
1833 Aug 7, Powell Clayton, Brig.
General (Union volunteers), (Gov-R-Ark), was born in Pa.
(MC, 8/7/02)(Internet)
1836 Jun 15, Arkansas was admitted
into the Union as the 25th state.
(AP, 6/15/97)(HN, 6/15/98)
1841 The state of Arkansas, facing
financial difficulties, stopped paying interest on a $500,000
investment that was dedicated to finance the Smithsonian Institute.
Under pressure from congressman J.Q. Adams, Congress repealed the bill
that authorized the Smithson bequest in state bonds and ordered the US
Treasury to take over interest payments. The principal was lost, but
the interest was enough to endow the institute.
(ON, 2/06, p.6)
1855 Nov 21, Franklin Colman, a
pro-slavery Missourian, gunned down Charles Dow, a Free Stater from
Ohio, near Lawrence, Kansas.
(HN, 11/21/99)
1859 Feb 28, Arkansas legislature
required free blacks to choose exile or slavery.
(MC, 2/28/02)
1861 Feb 12, State troops seized
US munitions in Napoleon, Ak.
(MC, 2/12/02)
1861 Apr 23, Arkansas troops
seized Fort Smith.
(AP, 4/23/98)
1861 May 6, Arkansas became the
ninth state to secede from the Union.
(HN, 5/6/98)
1862 Mar 6, Battle of Pea Ridge,
AR (Elkhorn Tavern). [see Mar 7]
(MC, 3/6/02)
1862 Mar 7, Confederate forces
surprised the Union army at the Battle of Pea Ridge, in Arkansas, but
the Union was victorious. [see Mar 6,8]
(HN, 3/7/99)
1862 Mar 8, On the second day of
the Battle of Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern) in Arkansas, Confederate
forces, including some Indian troops, under General Earl Van Dorn
surprised Union troops, but the Union troops won the battle. Pea Ridge
Natl. Military Park, Arkansas, marked the site where Confederate
commanders, Gen. Ben McCulloch and Gen. James McIntosh, were killed.
(Postcard, Coastal Photo Scenics, SW Harbor,
Maine)(HN, 3/8/98)(HN, 3/8/99)
1862 Jul 12, Federal troops
occupied Helena, Arkansas.
(MC, 7/12/02)
1862 Oct 22, Union troops pushed
5,000 confederates out of Maysbille, Ark., at the Second Battle of Pea
Ridge.
(HN, 10/22/98)
1862 Nov 28, The Battle at Cane
Hill, Arkansas, left 475 casualties. In late November, Maj. Gen. Thomas
C. Hindman detached Brig. Gen. John Marmaduke's cavalry from Van Buren
north to occupy the Cane Hill area. Hearing of this movement, Brig.
Gen. James Blunt advanced to meet Marmaduke's command and destroy it,
if possible. The Union vanguard encountered Col. Joe Shelby's brigade,
which fought a delaying action to protect their supply trains. Shelby
gradually gave ground until establishing a strong defensive perimeter
on Cove Creek where he repulsed a determined attack. The Federals
withdrew to Cane Hill, while the Confederates returned to Van Buren.
(http://www2.cr.nps.gov/abpp/battles/ar004.htm)
1862 Dec 7, Confederate forces
surprise an equal number of Union troops at the Battle of Prairie
Grove, Arkansas.
(HN, 12/7/99)
1863 Jan 11, Union forces captured
Arkansas Post, or Ft. Hindman, Arkansas.
(MC, 1/11/02)
1863 Jul 4, Failed Confederate
assault on Helena Arkansas left 640 casualties.
(Maggio, 98)
1863 Aug 1, Battle of Little Rock,
AK, and start of the Chattanooga campaign.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1863 Sep 27, Jo Shelby's cavalry
in action at Moffat's Station, Arkansas.
(MC, 9/27/01)
1864 Mar 23, Encounter at Camden,
AR.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1864 Mar 29, Union General
Steele's troops reached Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
(MC, 3/29/02)
1864 Mar 30, Skirmish at Mount
Elba, Arkansas.
(MC, 3/30/02)
1864 Apr 2, Skirmish at
Spoonville-Antoine, Arkansas.
(MC, 4/2/02)
1864 Apr 15, General Steele's
Union troops occupied Camden, Arkansas.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1864 Apr 25, Battle of Marks'
Mill, Arkansas.
(HN, 4/25/98)
1864 Oct 25, Skirmishes took place
at Mine Creek, Ka., and Turkeytown, Al.
(MC, 10/25/01)
1864 The Confederate War Dept.
organized the Indian tribes of eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas
into the Indian Division. Cherokee Gen’l. Stand Watie commanded the
Cherokee Mounted Rifles.
(WSJ, 6/9/97, p.A19)
1866 Apr 2, Pres. ended war in
Ala, Ark, Fla, Ga, Miss, La, NC, SC, Ten & Va.
(MC, 4/2/02)
1868 Jun 22, Arkansas was
re-admitted to the Union.
(AP, 6/22/97)
1869 Mar 13, Arkansas legislature
passed anti-Klan law.
(MC, 3/13/02)
1872 Little Rock, Arkansas,
blasted huge chunks of its namesake rock to make room for a railway
bridge. In 2009 the city launched a $650,000 project to excavate the
remains of the neglected “Little Rock,” estimated to be 300 million
years old.
(WSJ, 1/28/09, p.A1)
1873 Hope, Arkansas, was founded
to accommodate the newly emerging Cairo & Fulton Railroad. It was
named after Hope Loughborough, the daughter of one of the executives.
Later Pres. Bill Clinton spent 4 childhood years at 117 South Hervey
St. with his grandparents Eldridge and Edith Cassidy.
(SFC, 3/13/99, p.A3)
1874 Arkansas passed a
constitution that included a ban on gambling. In 2008 Arkansas voters
approved a state lottery by a 63% margin.
(Econ, 11/22/08, p.45)
1879 By this time a judge spread
the claim that Dr. Jackson’s Eye Water had cured his crippling “red
skin” disease. Dr. Alvah Jackson of Eureka Springs, Ark., had bottled
water from the local Basin Spring as a elixir following claims that it
had cured his son’s granulated eyelids.
(SSFC, 9/16/07, p.G5)
1887 Jan 11, At Fort Smith, Ark.,
hang man deluxe George Maledon dispatched four more victims in a
multiple hanging.
(HN, 1/11/99)
1887 Nov 27, U.S. Deputy Marshall
Frank Dalton, brother of the three famous outlaws, was killed in the
line of duty near Fort Smith, Ark.
(HN, 11/27/98)
1905 Feb 15, The 1st race meet at
Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. was run.
(440 Int’l., 2/15/99)
1908 Nov 13, Comer Van Woodward
(d.1999), later renowned historian and author, was born in Vanndale.
(SFEC, 12/19/99, p.C14)
1909 Mar 8, An F4 tornado hit
Brinkley, Arkansas, killing 49 people. It was but one of 7 to touch
down on the state this day.
(SSFC, 3/8/09, p.C10)
1913 Mar 13, Kansas legislature
approved censorship of motion pictures.
(MC, 3/13/02)
1913 Paul Pfeiffer moved his
family from St. Louis to a house on Cherry St. in Piggott, Ark.
Pfeiffer was a part owner of a chemical company and had purchased
63,000 acres of farmland around Piggott.
(SFC, 7/28/00, p.C12)
1914 Sep 2, William T. Dillard
(d.2002), founder of Dillard’s department store chain, was born in
Mineral Springs.
(SFC, 2/11/02, p.B5)
1919 Jan 19, John H. Johnson
(d.2005), editor and publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines, was born
Arkansas.
(HN, 1/19/99)(SFC, 8/8/05, p.B4)
1919 Oct 1, Black sharecroppers
gathered at Elaine, Arkansas, to secure a more equitable price for
their products. When a white deputy sheriff and a railroad detective,
arrived at the church, a fight broke out between them and the guards in
which the railroad detective was killed and the deputy sheriff was
wounded. This led to 3 days of fighting and the killing of 5 white men
and close to 200 black men, women and children. The Arkansas state
court later sentenced 12 sharecroppers to death and a 5-year legal
battle ensued. In 2008 Robert Whitaker authored “”On the Laps of Gods:
The Red Summer of 1919 and the Struggle for Justice That Remade a
Nation.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_Race_Riot)(SSFC, 7/27/08, Books
p.1)
1920s Wildcatters discovered oil
in Arkansas and Smackover became the center of the short-lived boom.
Rev. T.O. Rorie, a visiting Methodist preacher, wrote about Smackover
in his book "Hellhole of the World." Bromine later replaced oil as the
area's cash resource.
(WSJ, 2/14/00, p.A1)
1927 Ernest Hemingway married
Pauline Pfeiffer, his 2nd wife of 4. They lived together in Paris and
Key West until 1940, and often visited Piggott, Ark.
(SFC, 7/28/00, p.C12)
1929 Nov 15, Edward Asner, actor
(Mary Tyler Moore Show, Lou Grant), was born in KC, Kansas.
(MC, 11/15/01)
1930 Paul Pfeiffer founded the
Piggott State Bank.
(SFC, 7/28/00, p.C12)
1931 Jan 3, Hundreds of farmers
stormed a small town in depression-plagued Arkansas demanding food.
(HN, 1/3/99)
1932 Jan 12, Mrs. Hattie W.
Caraway (Ophelia Wyatt Caraway) a Democrat from Arkansas, became the
first woman elected to the US Senate.
(AP, 1/12/98)
1932 Feb 26, Johnny Cash (d.2003)
country singer (I Walk The Line, Folsom Prison Blues, Boy Named Sue),
was born in Kingsland, Arkansas.
(NW, 9/22/03, p.98)
1936 May 17, Dennis Hopper, actor
(True Grit, Blue Velvet, Easy Rider), was born in Kansas.
(MC, 5/17/02)
1939 Aug 17, Luther Allison,
guitarist (Bad News is Coming), was born in Arkansas.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1941 L.C. Bates his wife Daisy
founded the Arkansas State Press and turned the weekly newspaper into a
leading voice for civil rights in Little Rock. The paper shut down in
1959 when advertisers pulled out under pressure from segregationists.
(SFC, 11/5/99, p.D7)
1943 Sam Walton (d.1992) married
Helen Robson.
(SFEC, 9/3/00, Par p.4)
1944 Feb 15, Nathan Gordon
(1916-2008), US Navy pilot from Arkansas, and his crew made 4 separate
flying boat landings to rescue a number of aviators from B-52 bombers,
which had been shot down while attacking Japanese positions near
Kavieng harbor on New Ireland Island, Papua New Guinea. Gordon later
became the longest-serving lieutenant governor of Arkansas.
(SFC, 9/15/08, p.B8)
1945 Sam Walton opened his first
variety store in Newport, Arkansas, with a $20,000 loan from his wife’s
father. [see 1950]
(SFEC, 9/3/00, Par p.4)
1946 Aug 19, Bill Clinton, US
President from 1992-2000, was born as William J. Blythe III in Hope,
Arkansas. He was the son of Virginia Cassidy Blythe and William
Jefferson Blythe II. Clinton’s father was killed in a traffic accident
prior to his birth. His mother married Roger Clinton when Bill was 4
years old.
(SFC, 7/14/96, Par p.23)(SFEC, 3/9/96, Z1 p.5)(WUD,
1994 p.1698)(HNQ, 1/1/02)
1948 Aug 24, Edith Mae Irby became
the University of Arkansas' first African-American student.
(HN, 8/24/98)
1950 Sam Walton in Bentonville,
Ark., hit on the idea of a large retail store in rural areas stocked
with the lowest-priced goods available and founded Wal-Mart. In 1962 he
started his Wal-Mart discount chain. [see 1945]
(WSJ, 11/18/98, p.A20)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
1953 Feb 8, Mary Steenburgen,
actress (Parenthood, Time After Time), was born in Newport, Ark.
(MC, 2/8/02)
1954 Aug 23, The small community
of Charleston, Arkansas, became the first in the South to end
segregation in its schools. This was in response to the May 17 US
Supreme Court ruling on Brown vs. Board of Education.
(Econ, 9/22/07,
p.44)(http://ideas.aetn.org/productions/virtualtours/lrcentral/10)
1955 Orval Faubus (1910-1994)
began serving as the 34th governor of Arkansas. He served 6 consecutive
terms and left office in 1967.
(www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=102)
1957 Sep 2, Arkansas Gov. Orval
Faubus called out the National Guard to prevent nine black students
from entering Central High School in Little Rock. Pres. Eisenhower soon
responded with Federal troops to enforce federal law for integration.
The nine students, mentored by Daisy Gatson (d.1999 at 84) went on to
lead very productive lives as detailed in a 1997 retrospective.
(www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=89)(SFC, 4/28/00,
p.A11)
1957 Sep 14, Pres. Eisenhower met
with Arkansas Gov. Faubus in Rhode Island. Faubus agreed to cooperate
with the president’s decisions regarding the high schools of Little
Rock.
(http://tinyurl.com/2vggdj)
1957 Sep 23, Nine black students
who had entered Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas were forced
to withdraw because of a white mob outside. Pres. Eisenhower signed
Executive Order 10730 to send Federal troops to maintain order and
peace while the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, AR,
took place.
(AP,
9/23/97)(www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=89)
1957 Sep 24, President Dwight D.
Eisenhower sent federal troops into Little Rock, Arkansas, to protect
nine black students entering its newly integrated high school.
(HN, 9/24/98)
1957 Sep 25, With 300 members of
the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division standing guard, nine black
children forced to withdraw from Central High School in Little Rock,
Ark., because of unruly white crowds, were escorted to class. Vice
principle Elizabeth Huckaby (d.1999 at 93) escorted the children and in
1980 published "Crisis at Central High."
(SFC, 3/26/99, p.D5)(AP, 9/25/07)
1957 Oct, Pres. Eisenhower
federalized the Arkansas National Guard and ordered them to return to
their armories, which effectively removed them from the control of Gov.
Faubus.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orval_Faubus)
1957 Nov 27, Army withdrew from
Little Rock, Ark., after Central HS integration.
(MC, 11/27/01)
1958 May 27, Ernest Green and 600
whites graduated from Little Rock's Central High School. Green became
the first black Central High graduate.
(http://tinyurl.com/qyjp4)(www.centralhigh57.org/1957-58.htm)
1958 May 29, Annette Bening,
actress (American Beauty, Grifters, Bugsy, Valmont), was born in
Topeka, KS.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1958 Jun 21, A federal judge
allowed Little Rock Arkansas to delay school integration.
(HN, 6/21/98)
1958 Aug 27, The Arkansas
Legislature voted 94-1 to pass a law allowing Gov. Orval E. Faubus to
close public schools in the face of forced integration. Ray S. Smith
(1924-2007) was the only dissenting legislator.
(SFC, 11/13/07, p.D9)
1958 Sep 12, The US Supreme Court,
in Cooper v. Aaron, unanimously ruled that Arkansas officials who were
resisting public school desegregation orders could not disregard the
high court's rulings.
(AP, 9/12/08)
1958 Sep, Orval Faubus
(1910-1994), governor of Arkansas, shut Little Rock’s schools to
prevent any more black children from attending white schools.
(Econ, 9/22/07,
p.44)(www.africanamericans.com/LittleRock.htm)
1959 Jun 18, A Federal Court
annulled the Arkansas law allowing school closings to prevent
integration.
(HN, 6/18/98)
1961 Jul 28, Scott E. Parazynski,
MD, astronaut, was born in Little Rock, Ark.
(SC, 7/28/02)
1962 Daisy Bates (d.1999 at 87)
authored "The Long Shadow of Little Rock." It was about the 1956
desegregation of the Little Rock bus system and the 1957 integration of
Central High.
(SFC, 11/5/99, p.D7)
1962 Sam Walton of Bentonville,
Ark., founder of Wal-Mart (1950), started his Wal-Mart discount chain.
It became America's biggest retailer in 1990. In 2004 Liza Featherstone
authored “Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers’ Rights
at Wal-Mart.” In 2006 Charles Fishman authored “The Wal-Mart Effect:
How the World’s Most Powerful Company Really Works – And How It’s
Transforming the American Economy” and Anthony Bianco authored “The
Bully of Bentonville: How the High Cost of Wal-Mart’s Everyday Low
Prices is Hurting America.”
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)(Econ, 9/11/04, p.62)(Econ,
2/25/06, p.80, 85)
1968 Nov 12, U.S. Supreme Court
voided an Arkansas law banning the teaching of evolution in public
schools.
(HN, 11/12/98)
1970 Oct 2, A plane carrying the
Wichita State U football team crashed killing 30.
(MC, 10/2/01)
1971 Jun 18, Fred Smith (b.1944)
founded Federal Express Corporation, an overnight air freight delivery
service, in Little Rock, Arkansas. It was based on a hub and spoke
business plan he cooked up at Yale. In 1973 he moved the operation to
Memphis, Tennessee.
(http://tinyurl.com/6mvfvy)(Econ, 11/18/06, p.70)
1973 Feb 22, Winthrop Rockefeller
(b.1912), two-year term Arkansas Governor (1967-1971), died of cancer.
He was the 4th son of John D. Rockefeller.
(http://archive.rockefeller.edu/bio/winthrop.php)
1974 Bill Clinton in an Arkansas
congressional race lost his 1st bid for elective office to John Paul
Hammerschmidt, a GOP incumbent.
(SFC, 5/23/03, p.A26)
1975 Oct 11, Bill Clinton married
Hillary Rodham in Fayetteville.
(SFEC, 3/28/99, Par p.4)
1976 Apr 15, Gerald L.K. Smith
(b.1898), a leader of the “Share Our Wealth” movement and founder of
the America First Party (1943), died in Arkansas.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_L._K._Smith)
1977 Arkansas passed an
anti-sodomy law. A judge threw it out in 2001.
(SFC, 3/24/01, p.C1)
1978 Apr 25, William Clinton (31),
attorney general of Arkansas and candidate for governor, sexually
assaulted Juanita Broderick at the Camelot Inn in Little Rock.
Broderick made the story public in 1999.
(SFC, 2/19/99, p.A1,10)
1978 Jun 18, The Whitewater
business venture was incorporated. Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton and his
wife Hillary set up their 50-50 Whitewater venture with Mr. & Mrs.
McDougal. The Clintons lost money in the real estate deal that later
turned into the Whitewater scandal.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitewater_(controversy))(WSJ, 8/19/96,
p.A12)(SFC, 6/4/96, p.A19)
1980 Feb 27, Chelsea Clinton,
daughter of Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton (1993-2001), was born in Little
Rock.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Clinton)
1980 Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton
lost his re-election bid for the governor’s office to Frank White
(d.2003).
(SFC, 1/29/98, p.A3)(SFC, 5/23/03, p.A26)
1980s The Whitewater real estate
deal involved Bill and Hillary Clinton, James and Susan McDougal, and
Jim Guy Tucker. A final report in 2002 found that the deal benefited
from criminal transactions but that there was insufficient evidence to
prove wrongdoing by the Clintons.
(WSJ, 3/21/02, p.A1)
1982 Jan 5, A Federal judge
(www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4726786) voided an
Arkansas state law requiring balanced classroom treatment of evolution
and creationism.
(HN, 1/5/99)
1982 In Arkansas former Gov. Bill
Clinton won his election bid for the governor’s office with the help of
political consultant Dick Morris.
(SFC, 1/29/98, p.A3)
1983 Jun 3, Gordon Kahl (b.1920),
a militant tax protester wanted in the slayings of two US marshals in
North Dakota, was killed in a gun battle with law enforcement officials
near Smithville, Ark. Kahl was a former member of the anti-tax Posse
Comitatus movement founded in 1969 by Henry L Beach.
(AP,
6/3/97)(http://law.jrank.org/pages/9290/Posse-Comitatus.html)
1983 Gov. Clinton had an intimate
sexual encounter by mutual consent with Mrs. Elizabeth Ward Gracen,
a 1982 Miss America.
(SFC, 4/1/98, p.A3)
1984 The Arkansas Museum of Oil
and Brine opened. The name was later changed to the Museum of Natural
Resources.
(WSJ, 2/14/00, p.A1)
1986 Gov. Clinton lobbied Little
Rock judge and small-business financier David Hale to make a $300,000
loan to Susan McDougal. The Clinton-McDougal relationship was later
described by Jim McDougal in the 1998 book “Arkansas Mischief” written
with the assistance of Curtis Wilkie, published after McDougal’s death
in federal prison.
(WSJ, 6/4/98, p.A16)
1987 Aug 23, Two teenagers in
Alexander, Arkansas, Kevin Ives and Don Henry were run over by a train.
Fahmy Malak, the medical examiner of Gov. Clinton, ruled the Aug 23
deaths of the teenagers as accidental. Malak was investigated and
cleared of improprieties. Later investigations indicated that they were
murdered prior to being run over.
(WSJ, 4/15/97, p.A18)(WSJ, 4/18/96, p.A-18)
1987 Dec 28, The bodies of 14
relatives of R. Gene Simmons were found at his home near Dover, Ark.,
following a shooting spree by Simmons in Russellville that claimed two
other lives. (Simmons was later executed.)
(AP, 12/28/97)
1990 Heidi and Scott Riddle
established the nonprofit Riddle Elephant Breeding Farm and Wild Life
Sanctuary on 330 acres near Guy.
(SFC,11/17/97, p.A3)
1991 Oct 3, Arkansas Gov. Bill
Clinton entered the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
(AP, 10/3/01)
1992 Jan 24, The state of Arkansas
executed convicted cop-killer Rickey Ray Rector after Gov. Bill Clinton
refused to intervene.
(AP, 1/24/02)
1992 Apr 5, Wal-Mart founder Sam
Walton died in Little Rock, Ark., at age 74. In 1999 Bob Ortega
authored the biography "In Sam We Trust."
(AP, 4/5/97)(SFEC, 4/18/99, BR p.9)
1992 May 2, Former US House Ways
and Means Chairman Wilbur D. Mills died in Searcy, Ark., at age 82.
(AP, 5/2/97)
1992 Jul 15, Arkansas Gov. Bill
Clinton claimed the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's
convention in New York City.
(AP, 7/15/97)
1992 Nov 3, Bill Clinton, governor
of Arkansas, was elected as the 42nd president of the United States,
defeating President Bush, who won 38% of the popular vote. Clinton won
Ohio by 2 percentage points.
(AP, 11/3/97)(HN, 11/3/98)(SSFC, 4/29/01,
p.D1)(Econ, 8/2/08, p.31)
1993 May 5, In West Memphis, Ark.,
3 teenagers allegedly killed and sexually mutilated 3 eight-year-old
boys. In 1994 Jason Baldwin (16) was sentenced to life in prison;
Jessie Misskelley (18) was sentenced to life plus 40 years; Damien
Echols (19) was sentenced to death. The case was largely based on a
confession by Misskelley, who was mentally handicapped. In 1996 Jo
Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky made an HBO documentary: "The Child
Murders at Robin Hood Hills." In 2007 new DNA tests and forensic
evidence challenged the guilt of the teenagers.
(www.wm3.org/live/trialshearings/chrono_detail.php?guy=1&chrono_Id=151&page=8)(WSJ,
6/11/96, p.A16)(WSJ, 3/13/00, p.A44)(SFC, 12/20/07, p.A6)
1993 Dr. George Tiller was shot in
both arms by an abortion protester. He returned to work the next day.
(SSFC, 1/20/02, p.A12)
1993 Little Rock, Ark., hit a
record 76 murders for the year.
(SSFC, 8/11/02, p.F6)
1994 Jan 6, Virginia Kelley
Clinton (70), mother of Pres Clinton, died in Hot Springs, Ark.
(AP, 1/6/99)(MC, 1/6/02)
1994 Feb 26, Bill Hicks (32),
writer and comedian, died in Little Rock, Ark.
(www.asifproductions.com/saints/bill.html)
1994 Mar 14, Associate Attorney
General Webster Hubbell, a longtime friend of President and Mrs.
Clinton, resigned because of controversy over billings he'd charged
while in private law practice.
(AP,
3/14/99)(www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_house/april97/hubbell_4-2.html)
1994 Apr 4, The University of
Arkansas won the NCAA basketball championship, defeating Duke 76-72.
(AP, 4/4/99)
1994 May 11, Arkansas put to death
two convicted murderers; it was the first time a state executed two
people on the same day since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to
restore the death penalty in 1976.
(AP, 5/11/99)
1994 Dec 14, Former Arkansas
Governor Orval E. Faubus, died at age 84. His refusal to let nine black
students into Little Rock's Central High School in 1957 forced
President Eisenhower to send in federal troops.
(AP, 12/14/99)
1994 Mike Huckabee was elected as
lieutenant governor of Arkansas.
(Econ, 2/3/07, p.33)
1994 Webster L. Hubbell, a player
in the Whitewater-Madison land deal with Pres. Clinton, resigned from
the Justice Dept. and launched a private consulting practice in
Washington. He received substantial aide from important public and
private figures. He had been appointed by Bill Clinton as chief justice
of Arkansas when Clinton was governor. He was later sentenced to prison
for bilking his partners in the Little Rock law firm where he worked
with Hillary Clinton. Ind. Council Kenneth Starr asserted that Hubbell
accepted thousands of dollars in bogus consulting fees, and that the
payments were hush money to keep him talking about financial deals in
Arkansas.
(SFC, 9/12/98, p.A12)(SFC, 1/27/99, p.A3)
1994-1998 In Arkansas 59 bald eagles were found dead
at DeGray Lake and Lake Hamilton. Their deaths were associated with
dead coots and followed 10-20 days after heavy rains. Runoff containing
hazardous materials was suspected.
(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.A14)
1995 Jul 18, US Senate Republicans
opened a new round of Whitewater hearings.
(AP, 7/18/00)
1995 Aug 17, James B. McDougal,
McDougal’s ex-wife, Susan H. McDougal, and Arkansas Governor Jim Guy
Tucker were indicted by the Whitewater grand jury. James McDougal was
convicted on 18 of 19 counts of fraud and conspiracy; Tucker was found
guilty on one count of fraud and one count of conspiracy; Susan
McDougal was convicted on four fraud-related charges. James B.
McDougal’s sentencing was delayed when the court suggested he testify
against the Clintons. He died of a heart attack in federal prison in
Fort Worth, Texas, on March 8, 1998. Susan H. McDougal was sentenced to
two years in prison, probation, community service and $305,000 in fines
and restitution. She received a full Presidential pardon from outgoing
President Bill Clinton in the final hours of his presidency on January
20, 2001. Jim Guy Tucker was convicted of three counts of felony; due
to his poor health, he was sentenced to four years probation and 18
months of house detention and $325,000 in fines and restitution.
(AP,
8/17/01)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_McDougal)
1996 Mar 4, Jury selection began
in Little Rock, Ark., in the trial of President Clinton's Whitewater
partners, James and Susan McDougal, and the man who succeeded him as
Arkansas governor, Jim Guy Tucker. James McDougal and Tucker were later
convicted of fraud and conspiracy; Susan McDougal was convicted of
fraud.
(AP, 3/4/06)
1996 May 28, A US jury convicted
the former business partners of Pres. Clinton in the Whitewater Case,
James and Susan McDougal, and Jim Guy Tucker, governor of Arkansas.
Tucker was charged with creating a sham bankruptcy to avoid paying
taxes on profits from a sold cable TV company in which he was a
partner. Tucker resigned after the verdict. He briefly reversed his
decision, but finally stepped down in July. In 1998 Tucker pleaded
guilty to a felony charge of fraud and agreed to cooperate with
prosecutors of independent council Kenneth Starr.
(SFC, 5/29/96, A1)(WSJ, 1/2/97, p.R2)(SFC, 2/21/98,
p.A3)
1996 Jul 15, Arkansas Gov. Guy
Tucker stepped down following a felony conviction in the Whitewater
scandal. Lt. Gov. Mike Huckabee became governor.
(WSJ, 1/2/97, p.R2)(Econ, 2/3/07, p.33)
1996 Aug 19, A judge sentenced
former Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker to four years' probation for his
Whitewater crimes.
(AP, 8/19/97)
1996 Aug 20, Susan McDougal was
sentenced in Little Rock, Ark., to two years in prison in a Whitewater
fraud case. She served three months of that sentence, but also 18
months for contempt for refusing to answer questions about President
Clinton.
(AP, 8/20/06)
1997 Mar 1, Severe storms hit
Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi, and spawned tornadoes in
Arkansas blamed for two dozen deaths.
(AP, 3/1/98)
1997 May 9, A pesticide plant
burned after an explosion in West Helena, Ark. The chemical
Azinphosmethyl was not supposed to have exploded unless it was heated
and decomposed. A levee was built to keep poison-laden rainwater from
entering the Mississippi River. Three firefighters were killed.
(SFC, 5/10/97, p.A8)
1997 Sep 25, President Clinton
pulled open the door of Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., as he
welcomed nine blacks who had faced hate-filled mobs 40 years earlier.
(AP, 9/25/98)
1997 Christina Marie Riggs drugged
and suffocated her 2 children to death. She was convicted for murder
and executed by injection in 2000. It was the state’s first execution
of a woman in over 150 years.
(SFC, 5/3/00, p.A6)
1998 Jan 29, Yah Lin Trie
("Charlie Trie"), a Little Rock restaurateur, was indicted under 15
counts in relation to fund raising for the Democratic Party. In 1999
Trie agreed to plead guilty to 2 counts of violating federal election
laws, one felony and one misdemeanor for a maximum of 3 years probation.
(SFC, 5/22/99, p.A2)
1998 Apr 16, Tornadoes claimed 11
lives in Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky.
(SFC, 4/17/98, p.A1)(AP, 4/16/08)
1998 Apr 25, In Little Rock two
little girls, Sidney Pippin (4-months old) and Vicky Fraley, died of
heat exhaustion after they were left in a car for 8 hours. Police
charged Ricky Leon Crisp (23), the father of Vicky (16-months old), and
Justin Griffith (27) with first-degree murder.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A3)
1998 Mar 24, In Jonesboro, Ark., 2
boys, Mitchell Johnson (13) and Andrew Golden (11), opened fire on a
group of schoolchildren and killed four girls and one teacher and
wounded 11 others. The older boy was angry at a girl who had broken up
with him. Golden had stolen 7 guns from his grandfather. The boys were
remanded to the Division of Youth Services until their 18th birthdays.
Federal prosecutors used weapons laws to keep the boys locked up until
age 21. Mitchell Johnson was due to be released in 2005.
(SFC, 3/25/98, p.A1)(SFC, 3/26/98, p.A1)(SFC,
8/12/98, p.A3)(AP, 8/12/05)
1998 Aug 11, Mitchell Johnson
(14), one of the shooters in the March 24 Jonesboro, Ark., schoolyard
massacre, pleaded guilty to murder and battery. He and Andrew Golden
(12) were both convicted. The boys were detained by Arkansas juvenile
authorities until they turned 18, then transferred to federal custody.
Federal authorities released the two when they turned 21. In 2008 a US
District Judge sentenced Johnson (24) to 4 more years in prison for
possession of a 9mm pistol, a Federal violation of his parole. Charges
remained pending on the possession of marijuana and a stolen credit
card.
(AP,
8/11/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Golden)
1998 Nov 3, Arkansas Gov. Mike
Huckabee (b.1955) was elected in a landslide.
(Econ, 2/3/07,
p.33)(http://preview.tinyurl.com/2hhsgo)
1998 Jesse Dirkhissing (13) of
Arkansas was raped for hours by 2 next door homosexuals and left to
die. The story followed the Wyoming Mat Shepard case and was ignored by
the main stream press.
(WSJ, 11/19/01, p.A18)
1999 Jan 3, An explosion on
Smackover, Ark., killed 3 men working on a naphtha tank valve.
(SFC, 1/14/99, p.A3)
1999 Jan 21, In Arkansas twisters
led to 4 deaths and over a dozen injuries across the state.
(SFC, 1/22/99, p.A3)
1999 Jan 22, More twisters hit the
South and 3 more people were killed in Arkansas and one in Tennessee.
The 100 year-old Quapaw district of Little Rock was hit hard as was the
historic district of Carksville, Tenn.
(SFC, 1/23/99, p.A3)(WSJ, 1/25/99, p.A1)
1999 Apr 12, In Arkansas US
District Judge Susan Webber Wright held Pres. Clinton in contempt of
court for giving "intentionally false" testimony about his relationship
with Monica Lewinsky.
(SFC, 4/13/99, p.A1)
1999 Apr 27, A federal grand jury
indicted ten top political figures in Arkansas for corruption. Nick
Wilson, the senior state senator, was indicted as the ring leader of a
group that diverted state money.
(SFC, 4/28/99, p.A3)
1999 May 1, In Hot Springs,
Arkansas, an amphibious tourist boat sank on Lake Hamilton and 11
people drowned. The death toll rose to 13 after one survivor died and
another body was found.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.A2)(SFC, 5/3/99, p.A2)
1999 May 10, Chevie Kehoe, a white
supremacist, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing
an Arkansas family and conspiring to overthrow the government.
(WSJ, 5/11/99, p.A1)
1999 May 17, Jim Guy Tucker,
former state governor, was ordered to pay $1 million for conspiring to
evade taxes on a cable TV business he sold in 1988. Tucker planned to
appeal.
(SFC, 5/18/99, p.A2)
1999 Jun 1, In Little Rock, Ark.,
9 people died when an American Airlines jet carrying 145 people crashed
into a light tower on landing in stormy weather. The toll climbed to 11
after 2 initial survivors died. In 2001 pilot error was cited.
(SFC, 6/3/99, p.A1)(SFC, 6/17/99, p.A3)(SFC,
10/24/01, p.C14)
1999 Aug 26, Shawana Pace (23) was
attacked by three men hired by her boyfriend, who kicked her and killed
her soon to be due baby. The 3 men were charged with murder under the
new Arkansas Fetal Protection Law.
(SFC, 9/3/99, p.A3)
1999 The Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum
and Educational Center opened in Piggott.
(SFC, 7/28/00, p.C12)
2000 Aug 28, An apparent
murder-suicide left a professor and a graduate student dead at the
Univ. of Arkansas. It was later found that the graduate student had
been kicked out of a degree program.
(WSJ, 8/28/00, p.A1)(WSJ, 8/30/00, p.A1)
2000 Lee Scott took over as head
of Arkansas-based Wal-Mart, the company’s 3rd boss. In late 2007 Scott
announced that he would retire at the end of January, 2009.
(Econ, 11/29/08, p.70)
2001 Mar 23, Pulaski County
Circuit Judge David Bogard threw out the 1977 anti-sodomy law.
(SFC, 3/24/01, p.C1)
2001 Nov 23, Heavy storms hit
Arkansas and at least 4 people were killed.
(SSFC, 11/25/01, p.A19)
2001 Arkansas passed a Covenant
Marriage Act.
(Econ, 2/12/05, p.31)
2002 Feb 8, William T. Dillard
(b.1914), founder of Dillard’s department store chain, died in Little
Rock, Ark.
(SFC, 2/11/02, p.B5)(AP, 2/8/03)
2002 Jul 5, The Arkansas state
Supreme Court ruled that a law banning sexual relations between people
of the same sex was an unconstitutional invasion of privacy.
(SFC, 7/6/02, p.A5)
2002 Dec 12, Dee Brown (94),
author of “Bury My heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the
American West” (1970), died in Little Rock, Ark.
(SFC, 12/16/02, p.A23)
2002 Dec 18, At least 4 tornadoes
hit Arkansas and Missouri and killed 3 people with 30 injured.
(SFC, 12/19/02, p.A4)
2003 May 21, Frank White (69),
former governor (1981-1982), died in Little Rock.
(SFC, 5/23/03, p.A26)
2003 Oct 4, Sid McMath (91),
former 2-term governor of Arkansas, died.
(WSJ, 10/6/03, p.A1)
2003 Arkansas state legislators
passed an act to measure the body mass index of its schoolchildren.
Data soon revealed that 40% of the children are obese or at risk of
becoming so.
(Econ, 6/12/04, p.29)
2003 Arkansas Republican Governor
Mike Huckabee was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes. He proceeded to loose
105 pounds and made improving public health a priority of his last 2
years in office.
(Econ, 2/17/07, p.37)
2004 Feb 2, An ivory-billed
woodpecker, thought to be extinct, was reported in the Cache River
National Wildlife Refuge of Arkansas. The last sighting of the bird was
in 1944. The sighting put a hold on the Grand Prairie Area
Demonstration Project, a $319 million irrigation project to provide
water for rice farming, which would divert water from the bird’s
habitat.
(SFC, 4/29/05, p.A1)(Econ, 5/13/06, p.36)
2004 Oct 9, A bus carrying
Chicago-area tourists to a Mississippi casino crashed and overturned on
I-55 in northeastern Arkansas, killing 15 people.
(SSFC, 10/10/04, p.A6)(AP, 10/9/05)
2004 Nov 18, In Little Rock, Ark.,
an estimated 30,000 guests attended the opening of the Clinton
Presidential Center, a 30-acre, $165 million glass-and-steel home of
artifacts and documents gathered during Clinton's eight years in the
White House.
(AP, 11/18/04)(Econ, 11/13/04, p.36)
2004 Dec 30, Arkansas vowed to
appeal after a judge struck down a 1999 rule barring the state from
placing a foster child in any household with a gay member.
(WSJ, 12/31/04, p.A1)
2004 Dec, Arkansas was reported to
be infected with Asian soybean rust. 9 states were believed to be
infected with spores carried over from South America by the recent
hurricanes.
(Econ, 12/11/04, p.33)
2005 Jan 2, In El Dorada, Ark.,
firefighters evacuated hundreds of residents as they fought a blaze in
a hazardous waste warehouse.
(WSJ, 1/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 19, In Arkansas a train
slammed into an ambulance that apparently tried to get out of its path,
but stopped at a rail crossing, killing all three paramedics on board.
The patient in the vehicle survived.
(AP, 2/20/05)
2005 Sep 8, US grain prices were
reported down as grain elevators along the Mississippi filled to
capacity and grain handling due to Katrina fell to 63%. Early harvests
from Arkansas were particularly hit.
(WSJ, 9/8/05, p.A10)(WSJ, 9/9/05, p.A1)
2006 Jan 8, Wildfires in the
southwest US spread to Arkansas and Colorado destroying 9 more homes.
Over the last 2 weeks the fires in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas have
destroyed 475 homes and left 5 people dead.
(SFC, 1/9/06, p.A3)
2006 Jan 28, In southern Arkansas
police found the bodies of 3 children lying side-by-side on a bed in
their home after Paula Eleazar Mendez (43), their mother, said she
smothered them.
(AP, 1/29/06)
2006 Jan 31, In Arkansas Tom
Coughlin (57), a former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. vice chairman who was a
protege of founder Sam Walton, pleaded guilty to fraud and tax charges,
admitting that he stole money, gift cards and merchandise from the
world's largest retailer.
(AP, 1/31/06)
2006 Jan, In Arkansas Riceland
Rice, the world’s largest miller and marketer of rice, became aware of
genetically modified rice in its commercial bins. In July American
agricultural officials learned that unapproved rice had been found in
commercial bins in Arkansas and Missouri. The EU soon demanded that
rice be tested and certified.
(Econ, 9/16/06, p.43)
2006 Feb 4, In Arkansas Jacob D.
Robida (18) shot himself after he killed a Gassville police officer and
a woman in his car. Robida died the next day. 2 days earlier Robida had
used a hatchet and a gun to attack 3 patrons at a gay bar in Mass.
(AP, 2/3/06)(AP, 2/5/06)(SFC, 2/8/06, p.A3)
2006 Mar 12-2006 Mar 13, Swarms of
tornadoes killed at least 10 people across the Midwest states of
Indiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, South Dakota, Minnesota and
Wisconsin. It caused so much damage in Springfield, Ill., that the
mayor compared it to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
(AP, 3/13/06)
2006 Apr 20, Arkansas Republican
Governor Mike Huckabee signed a $1.10 state minimum wage increase into
law to be effective Oct 1. The previous minimum was at the federal
standard of $5.15 per hour.
(http://tinyurl.com/mrppf)
2006 Jun 29, The Arkansas Supreme
Court ruled that Arkansas cannot ban gays from becoming foster parents,
because there is no link between their sexual orientation and a child’s
well-being.
(SFC, 6/30/06, p.A20)
2006 Jul 7, The Arkansas state
board barred Dr. Randeep Mann from prescribing narcotics after
officials said 10 of his patients died from a lethal mix of drugs or an
overdose of prescription medicines.
(AP, 7/7/06)
2006 Jul 16, Win Rockefeller (57),
Lt. Gov. of Arkansas and son of former Arkansas Gov. Winthrop
Rockefeller, died of a blood disease marked by the uncontrolled
production of bone marrow cells.
(http://tinyurl.com/mlaoo)
2006 Dec 7, Johnnie Bryan Hunt
(79), founder of Arkansas-based J.B. Hunt Transport Services (1969),
died.
(WSJ, 12/9/06, p.A5)
2007 Jan 9, Mike Beebe was sworn
in as the 45th Governor of the State of Arkansas.
(www.governor.arkansas.gov/gov_biography.html)
2007 Jan 17, A US snow and ice
storm was blamed for at least 64 deaths in nine states. These included
20 deaths in Oklahoma, 9 in Missouri, 8 in Iowa, 4 in New York, 5 in
Texas, 4 in Michigan, 3 in Arkansas, and 1 each in Maine and Indiana.
(AP, 1/17/07)(SFC, 1/18/07, p.A3)
2007 Feb 24, In Arkansas tornado
winds injured 40 people and damaged dozens of homes and businesses.
Much of the town of Dumas was destroyed. The Midwest storm system was
blamed for 8 traffic deaths, 7 in Wisconsin and one in Kansas.
(SFC, 2/26/07, p.A4)(Econ, 4/7/07, p.30)
2007 Apr 19, Helen Robson Walton
(b.1919), widow of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, died in Bentonville,
Ark. She had pushed for a profit-sharing plan for employees in the
Wal-Mart’s early days and demanded that the family live in a small,
rural town.
(WSJ, 4/21/07, p.A6)
2007 Apr 24, A tornado in the
Texas border town of Eagle Pass killed at least 10 people and destroyed
two schools and more than 20 homes. The storm killed 2 more people in
Arkansas and Louisiana.
(AP, 4/25/07)(SFC, 4/26/07, p.A3)
2007 Aug 11, Republican Mitt
Romney (b.1947) won the first test of the 2008 White House race, using
a big wallet and broad organization to muscle aside a field of rivals
in a low-turnout Iowa straw poll. Mike Huckabee (b.1955), former
governor of Arkansas, came in second.
(Reuters, 8/11/07)(WSJ, 8/13/07, p.A5)
2007 In Arkansas six nuns were
excommunicated after refusing to give up membership in the Army of
Mary. In 1971 Marie Paule Giguere (b.1921), a Catholic nun in Quebec,
founded the Army of Mary as a prayer group, saying she was receiving
visions from God. In 2007 the Vatican declared her teachings were
heretical.
(SFC, 9/27/07,
p.A20)(www.religioustolerance.org/army_mary.htm)
2008 Jan 7, Tornadoes were
reported or suspected in southwest Missouri, southeastern Wisconsin,
Arkansas, Illinois and Oklahoma. Two people were killed in Missouri.
(AP, 1/8/08)
2008 Feb 5, Storms swept across
southeast US as Super Tuesday primaries were ending. At least 31 people
were killed in Tennessee, 13 in Arkansas, 7 in Kentucky and four in
Alabama. It was one of the 15 worst tornado death tolls since 1950, and
the nation's deadliest barrage of tornadoes since 76 people were killed
in Pennsylvania and Ohio on May 31, 1985. The death toll rose to 59.
(AP, 2/6/08)(AP, 2/7/08)(WSJ, 2/8/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 19, Flooding forced
hundreds of people to flee their homes and closed scores of roads
across a wide swath of the US midsection as a huge storm system poured
as much as 10 inches of rain on the region. Flooding was reported in
parts of Arkansas, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, Missouri and
Kentucky with over a dozen deaths.
(AP, 3/19/08)(AP, 3/20/08)
2008 Apr 2, Arkansas Gov. Mike
Beebe singed legislation to repeal a botched marriage law, and
reinstated 17 as the minimum age to marry for boys and 16 for girls.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 2, In Arkansas 3 men were
presumed drowned when scaffolding underneath an Arkansas River bridge
collapsed. They were working on a project to install a water main
beneath the bridge for the Central Arkansas Water utility.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2008 Apr 10, Powerful storms
brought hail, heavy rain and possible tornadoes to Arkansas, Texas, and
Oklahoma, causing flooding and power outages for thousands of customers
and at least one death.
(AP, 4/10/08)
2008 May 2, Severe storms rolled
across Arkansas and killed 8 people, including a teenager crushed by a
tree while she slept in her bed. The deaths came after earlier storms
seriously damaged homes and businesses in the Kansas City, Mo., area.
(AP, 5/2/08)(AP, 5/3/08)
2008 Aug 13, In Little Rock, Ark.,
Timothy Dale Johnson (50), described as a loner, drove more than 30
miles to Arkansas' Democratic Party headquarters and fatally shot its
chairman, Bill Gwatney, hours after losing his job. Johnson was later
shot dead by officers.
(AP, 8/14/08)
2008 Oct 25, Anne Pressly (26), an
Arkansas KATV anchorwoman, died in Little Rock several days after she
didn't answer her wake-up call and was found beaten in her home. On Nov
26 officers arrested suspect Curtis Lavelle Vance (28) at a home in
Little Rock.
(AP, 10/26/08)(AP, 11/27/08)
2008 Oct 26, At the University of
Central Arkansas in Conway a shooting left two students dead and a
third person wounded. On Oct 28 4 men were charged with capital murder
and other felonies for the shootings in Conway.
(AP, 10/27/08)(SFC, 10/29/08, p.A3)
2008 Nov 4, Arkansas voters passed
a measure blocking the adoption of children by unmarried couples. John
McCain won the state by 20 points over Barack Obama. Arkansas voters
approved a state lottery by a 63% margin.
(SSFC, 11/9/08, p.A5)(Econ, 11/22/08, p.45)
2008 Dec 2, In Arkansas a federal
indictment was unsealed accusing evangelist Tony Alamo (74) of sexually
abusing five girls on separate occasions beginning in 1994, including a
period when he was serving a tax-evasion sentence at a halfway house in
Texarkana.
(AP, 12/3/08)
2009 Jan 28, President Barack
Obama signed requests from Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and Arkansas
Gov. Mike Beebe for federal emergency declarations as crews worked
around the clock to resurrect power lines downed by thick ice in both
states. Since the storm began building on Jan 26, the weather has been
blamed for at least six deaths in Texas, four in Arkansas, three in
Virginia, six in Missouri, two in Oklahoma, and one each in Indiana and
Ohio.
(AP, 1/29/09)
2009 Jan, Little Rock, Arkansas,
launched a $650,000 project to excavate the remains of its neglected
“Little Rock,” estimated to be 300 million years old, and restore it to
a place of dignity. In 1872 huge chunks of the rock were blasted away
to make room for a railway bridge.
(WSJ, 1/28/09, p.A1)
2009 Feb 4, Arkansas Gov. Mike
Beebe signed into law new animal-cruelty restrictions that make
aggravated cruelty to cats, dogs and horses a felony on the first
offense. According to the US Humane Society Arkansas became the 46th
state to make cruelty to animals a felony.
(AP, 2/5/09)
2009 Mar 25, Arkansas Gov. Mike
Beebe signed 2 bills creating a state lottery, making his state the
43rd plus the district of Columbia to hold such contests.
(SFC, 3/26/09, p.A6)
2009 The Crystal Bridges Museum
for American Art, designed by Moshe Safdie, was scheduled to open in
Bentonville, Ark.
(WSJ, 3/4/06, p.P4)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = Arkansas
End of file.