100 YEARS AGO Feb. 27, 1913 Once again did the temperance toilers of the house step forth yesterday and assail the old Demon Rum, than which no beast or being is less beloved by a safe and stalwart majority of the north house of the General Assembly. An “anti-treating” bill, which also provides penalties for drunkenness in public office, passed the house with little or no argument, by the vote of 47 to 36. The bill provides that any public official found intoxicated shall be fined a sum not less than $10 nor more than $50, and upon second offense shall be fined a sum of not less than $50 nor more than $100, and be removed from office. Any person who purchases any kind of intoxicants for any other person is liable to a fine of not less than $10 normore than $50. The bill also provides a penalty against any state official keeping a little brown jug around the capitol or courthouse, from which to offer a friend a quiet nip.

50 YEARS AGO Feb. 27, 1963

Eva Ware Barnett’s “Arkansas” is again the state song under a resolution approved yesterday by the Arkansas Senate. “ Arkansas” first became the state song in 1917, the year after it was written. It was replaced in 1949 by “The Arkansas Traveler,” a fiddle tune, after Mrs. Barnett sued the state for infringing on the copyright of her song. She offered recently to give the copyright to the state.

25 YEARS AGO Feb. 27, 1988

Gov. Bill Clinton proposed a sweeping constitutional amendment Friday that would abolish personal property taxes on household goods and change the number of votes needed for the Legislature to raise taxes. If the tax amendment becomes a part of the Arkansas Constitution, it would eliminate $9.3 million in taxes Arkansas citizens pay on their furniture and other household goods.

10 YEARS AGO Feb. 27, 2003

The first streetcar for the $18.35 million River Rail project made its way over snow, ice and slushy roads from Iowa on a flatbed trailer and arrived Tuesday afternoon at Central Arkansas Transit Authority’s bus yard in North Little Rock. The $800,000 car is a replica of a Birney streetcar and was built for River Rail by Gomaco Trolley Co. in Ida Grove, Iowa.

Arkansas, Pages 13 on 02/27/2013