Today’s news roundup is short and sweet: Businessmen plan a delegation to Piedmont, a burglar has bad timing and poll workers get a substantial raise as the state minimum wage increases and the county seeks more than 200 workers for the upcoming election.
100 years ago
July 17, 1924
• The Poplar Bluff Chamber of Commerce is organizing its next good will trip, this time to Piedmont. On the first trip, 75 delegates of local businesses descended on Kennett for a day of tours and entertainment. A future trip to Doniphan is also planned.
• The Ryan family of Poplar Bluff arrived home just in time to thwart a burglary.
Mr. and Mrs. G.H. Ryan returned to their Elm Street home around 8:30 p.m. last night after a trip downtown. Mrs. Ryan went inside first to turn on the lights and found an intruder standing on the other side of the room. The man dove behind a curtain and Mrs. Ryan rushed back outside to get her husband. The couple called the police from a neighbor’s house.
The burglar was nowhere to be found when officers arrived, and nothing was missing from the house.
75 years ago
July 17, 1949 — No issues available.
50 years ago
July 17, 1974
• Poll workers are getting a raise. The August primary election will see their compensation jump from $15 per day ($1.90 per hour) to $24.70, in keeping with changes to federal minimum wage laws, which dictate an incremental increase to $2.30 per hour by 1977.
Butler County will need 230 poll workers for the primary. County Clerk George H. Collins estimated the total cost of supplies and salaries for the primary and general elections combined will be $25,000.