Out of the past 2/20/10

25 years ago: Feb. 20, 1985

The Missouri Police Chiefs Association and the Missouri Department of Public Safety conclude a three-day seminar here on how police officers and other public officials can more effectively deal with news media.

The Missouri State Supreme Court has upheld a lower court decision granting the Nell Holcomb School District 1.636 percent of the merchant's and manufacturer's tax from the Procter and Gamble plant in northern Cape Girardeau County; the Jackson R-2 School District had appealed a 1983 decision.

50 years ago: Feb. 20, 1960

A tour south, having traveled some 5,000 miles since leaving on Jan. 27, was completed by Mr. and Mrs. L.V. Steinhoff and sons, Kenny, David and Mark, of Cape Girardeau, when they returned here late yesterday; their itinerary included many cities, including Miami, Silver Springs, Cypress Gardens, St. Augustine and St. Petersburg, Fla., and New Orleans, La.

Charles Dockins, 12, rescues two small girls from a burning car in Cape Girardeau in the evening; Dockins, a Boy Scout, notices the fire in a car parked on the National Food Store lot and goes to the girls' rescue; they are unharmed.

75 years ago: Feb. 20, 1935

Steps looking to the establishment by the city of a Social Welfare Board to have complete charge of relief work in Cape Girardeau were taken yesterday at a meeting of the City Council and members of the Central Relief Organization; the plan will involve the dissolution of the C.R.O., which heretofore has handled relief on a 50-50 financial basis, with the city matching money raised locally.

Immediate sale of the traffic bridge here was again forestalled yesterday, when Judge C.B. Faris, sitting as federal district judge, granted an appeal from a decree he made eight days ago dismissing a petition to have the affairs of the Cape Girardeau Bridge Co. placed under provisions of the amended bankruptcy act; the application for the appeal was filed on behalf of six Cape Girardeau men who are minority bondholders.

100 years ago: Feb. 20, 1910

The Chapel Car, "Messenger of Peace," now working in cooperation with the Railroad Y.M.C.A., begins a series of meetings among the railroad men and their families in South Cape Girardeau.

The heavy burden of snow Thursday night caused the canvas roof of the tent used by the Gem Theater in Haarig to collapse, and several feet of snow fell into the interior; the place will be out of business a day or two until repairs are made.

-- Sharon K. Sanders