The 1949 polio epidemic had an unexpected side effect: banana sales slumped as shoppers worried they were tasty Trojan horses for the virus. Other news on today’s date involved civic improvement projects across the county and Poplar Bluff’s response to loud motorcycles.
100 years ago
Aug. 6, 1924
• The Butler County Court addressed road petitions from residents during a meeting today. Six rural roads were approved for construction outside Poplar Bluff, Broseley and Neelyville. The court also ordered surveys, handled a damage claim related to road construction, and received the deeds to right-of-way land.
Residents northwest of Poplar Bluff presented a lengthy petition for a concrete and steel bridge over Cane Creek. The court ordered a highway engineer to examine the area and report back during the court’s November term.
75 years ago
Aug. 6, 1949
• Van Buren reported its first confirmed polio case. LeRoy Miller, age 6, was diagnosed today by local physician Dr. T.W. Cotton and a Springfield hospital. Cotton said he’d heard of two other cases in Carter County, but neither was confirmed.
Meanwhile, fear of polio unexpectedly impacted grocers: banana sales have slumped. New rumors are circulating that bananas carry polio, which Dr. William A. Reilley, head of the University of Arkansas Medical School Pediatrics Department, denies. He said the story likely grew out of experiments where bananas were exposed to the virus and then fed to chimpanzees; however, bananas carried no polio on their own.
Health officials have urged food precautions during 1949’s polio outbreak. This includes protecting all food from flies, which are suspected as possible polio carriers, and spraying DDT to kill them.
50 years ago
Aug. 6, 1974
• Rising construction prices have undermined Dexter’s new sewer system, for now.
During a Dexter City Council meeting last night, a local engineer blamed inflation for raising the project’s price above the accepted bid, which came from Bridger Plumbing and Heating Company of Sikeston. City officials agreed to resubmit a petition for bids and let residents of the proposed sewer district rule on whether construction should continue.
The project was previously delayed in 1973 when easements couldn’t be obtained.
• The Poplar Bluff City Council pumped the brakes on motorcycles last night, according to a meeting report. A new amendment makes it a city violation to operate a vehicle on the property of another person without their permission. It’s also a violation to drive a vehicle without an operator’s license applicable to it, meaning a driver’s license for cars won’t cover other forms of transportation. Violation is deemed a “nuisance to the general public.”