For the Week in Clark County History, we combed through bound copies of the Daily Siftings Herald to choose some front-page news from editions dating 10, 20 and 30 years ago.

Last year, we reported the 25-year commemoration ceremony of the 1997 tornado that changed Arkadelphia’s history. CLICK HERE to read that story.

10 years ago in Clark County

Feb. 26, 2013
Of the approximately 100 high school and middle school students who had been randomly screened for drugs, none had tested positive, the high school’s principal told the newspaper a year after the school district set a policy to screen students involved in extracurricular activities.

March 1, 2013
Karen Kirkpatrick was named Best Female Clark Countian in a reader’s choice competition put on by the newspaper.

March 4, 2013
The Clark County Extension Service, under the direction of JoAnn Vann, provided a course in how to make homemade, eco-friendly cleaning agents using simple recipes of common household ingredients.

20 years ago in Clark County

Feb. 26, 2003
Eula Thomas, Randy Hicks, Wilma Gill, Kasey Summerville and Albert Neal were featured in a Black History Month article for their achievements.

March 3, 2003
As motorists blamed local gas station owners for rising fuel costs, the gas station owners who talked to reporters shifted the blame to the oil companies. The cost of regular unleaded gasoline at the time was $1.66 per gallon.

March 4, 2003
The state owed Clark County more than $100,000 for housing prison-bound inmates convicted of felonies in the county. There were 10 reported male inmates in the overcrowded Clark County Jail awaiting transfer to the state Department of Correction.

30 years ago in Clark County

March 3, 1993
Federal agents with the U.S. Marshal Service seized a 29-acre farm in Okolona and a van as a result of an Internal Revenue Service investigation. Agents later said the farm was the site of drug trafficking and money laundering.

March 4, 1993
An article focused on the upcoming fall debut of Ouachita Baptist University’s Hickingbotham School of Business.

150 years ago in Clark County

As a bonus and with credit to the Clark County Historical Association, we’re including newspaper writings from 150 years ago:

March 1, 1873
Work is progressing rapidly on the Cairo and Fulton Railroad all along the line and persons connected with the work assure us that the cars will be running to this place by the middle of the summer at farthest. The grading is all under contract to be finished by the first of May when track laying will commence at once. A large number of hands are at work getting out cross ties so there will be no delay in track laying when the grading is completed. Iron is daily arriving at Little Rock and we are informed that track laying will soon be commenced from that point. The Baltimore Bridge Company have the contract for building the bridge across the river at this place and are actively at work getting out timbers for it, and will commence work on the bridge as soon as practicable. All the indications are that we will hear the whistle blow some fine morning before now think. Hurray for the Railroad and its energetic managers.