25 Years Ago: City demands EMS protection

50 Years Ago

Herald and Democrat in 1964

The JBU track team was victorious in a dual meet with School of the Ozarks. The boys' event was won by a score of 92-53 1/2 and the girls' event by 36-18.

Two school records fell. Siloam Springs athlete Bill Phillips pole-vaulted 13'1", the first time anyone at JBU had gone over 13'.

Bill Daughaday broke his own shot put record with a shot of 46'8 1/2". He also won firsts in the discus and javelin for a total of 15 points.

25 Years Ago

Herald-Democrat in 1989

Siloam Springs put Oklahoma authorities on alert that if something was not done to provide protection for the city's firefighters when they crossed the state line, then emergency services might be stopped.

That notification came in the form of a resolution adopted by the Siloam Springs Board of Directors, which said the city may curtail all emergency services after May 3, unless it receives some satisfactory assurances that the city would be covered for any liability it incurred while responding to calls in Oklahoma.

Mayor M.L. Van Poucke said he did not want to cut off assistance to people living in Oklahoma, but that crossing the state line was against the law.

Van Poucke was referring to an opinion written by City Attorney John Dodge, which in effect said crossing the state line was an inappropriate use of taxpayers' money.

10 Years Ago

Herald- Democrat in 2004

Chad Harris, 20, was beginning to research colleges. His life could start after a kidney transplant the previous month.

Nearly a month later, he was still recovering, as was his donor, Laurie Sewell, 42, of Siloam Springs -- but she said the entire experience was a blessing.

Harris had Alport's Syndrome, a hereditary form of inflammation of the kidneys that often also causes hearing loss. It more often affects men than women, who have another X chromosome to compensate for the defective gene. There were five cases of Alport's in Northwest Arkansas; about one in 10,000 people who are carriers of the disease.

Sewell learned that Harris needed a kidney in a Herald-Leader article published the previous October.

"Before I got to the end I knew that I was the one," Sewell said. "Prior to that I thought he already had a donor."

"God laid it on my heart right then, before I even called the hospital," Sewell said.

"It's God's gift," Harris said.

"To both of us, truly," Sewell said. "I don't feel like the giver. I have been so blessed. It's not mine anyway, I was just taking care of it for a while."

Harris is the son of Jimmy and Karen Harris.

Community on 04/16/2014