25 years ago: March 22, 1980

State Rep. Jerry Ford, Cape Girardeau Democrat, says he will consider taking on 10th District Rep. Bill D. Burlison, D-Cape Girardeau, or running for a state office in 1982, and discloses he seriously considered challenging Burlison this year.

With memories of the deep divisions caused among Cape Girardeau County Republicans by the Reagan-Ford contest four years ago, the emphasis is on unity as the party picks delegates to both the state and district conventions.

50 years ago: March 22, 1955

G.D. Hinton of Cape Girardeau has received from the Coast Guard a report of an inquiry into the sinking of the SS Mormackite Oct. 7, 1954, in which his son, third assistant engineer Nelson Hinton, lost his life.

Joseph Collins, a representative of the General Services Administration in Kansas City, stops briefly at the post office here to take pictures of the building and the area nearby; presumably, his brief visit is in connection with the projected re-exchange of the post office and Courthouse Park.

75 years ago: March 22, 1930

Five more exceptions have been filed in federal court here by landowners to reports of commissioners assessing damages on property directly affected by the construction of the federal government's setback levy in Mississippi County; the exceptions contend the appraisal made by the commissioners is insufficient.

City Clerk W.C. Kaempfer asks the state attorney general for a legal opinion to aid in unraveling the apparent tangle growing out of Cape Girardeau's recent primary; after winning a spot in the general election Friday, Henry J. Brinkopf has been forced to withdraw from the race, leaving a question as to whose names will be placed on the general election ballot.

100 years ago: March 22, 1905

John C. Muir, general superintendent of the Third Division of the Frisco Railroad, with headquarters in Cape Girardeau, has sent in his resignation to take effect April 1; he has accepted the position of division superintendent of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, headquartered at Danville, Ill.

A minstrel company gave a performance at the Opera House last night, and its efforts drew a volley of ancient eggs from the gallery.

-- Sharon K. Sanders