Out of the past: Dec. 20

1999

​Jo Ann Emerson and Ron Gladney disagree on politics, but that hasn’t hampered their relationship; there is an easy give-and-take between Emerson, a Republican congresswoman from the 8th Congressional District of Southeast Missouri, and Gladney, a St. Louis lawyer and staunch Democrat whose clients include labor unions; Emerson and Gladney agreeably disagree on politics and generally agree on everything else; they plan to get married Jan. 15 in a civil ceremony in Cape Girardeau.

When William Faulkner accepted the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950, most of his books were out of print and his work was not considered important enough to merit a college seminar; but the Nobel changed everything for the writer who has become known as "the American Shakespeare”; now the Southern author has his own encyclopedia, co-edited by Dr. Robert Hamblin, director of the Center for Faulkner Studies at Southeast Missouri State University.

1974

​Potashnick Construction Co. of Cape Girardeau, one of Missouri’s largest highway builders, may have to lay off 300 workers next July if it doesn’t win new contracts because of an anticipated general reduction in the state highway construction program; state highway officials say the highway construction program is being slashed by a double-edged sword — higher inflation and reduced fuel tax revenues.

Following a recent Cape Girardeau City Council split vote on a special-use permit to develop a privately-owned family recreation center at the northeast corner of Interstate 55 and Hopper Road, Cape Rock Inc., one of the developers, has withdrawn as an applicant for the permit; an offer has been made by developers near Benton to locate the racket club there.

1949

​It’s becoming ever more apparent that any plan seeking to abolish Missouri’s State Colleges would run headlong into violent objections from representatives in the General Assembly from this district; the plan, suggested by the Jefferson City correspondent in Sunday’s St. Louis Globe-Democrat, suggests the abolition of three of the five State Colleges, including the one at Cape Girardeau, because of the duplication of courses at the state university; yesterday, two state representatives and a state senator from this area ridiculed the proposal, and today other district legislators are adding their opposition.

The matter of billboards on West Broadway, a topic of considerable discussion for some years, but particularly since the tornado last May, was injected into the City Council meeting yesterday; but it ended on a familiar note: The city is still powerless to do anything about the billboards; the most recent attention on the situation came last week when signs adjacent to a new market were moved closer to the street; each signboard brings in $35 per month to the signboard firm, which also owns the land; it pays an annual $20 license fee per board.

1924

​Nineteen persons are known dead, hundreds of others are suffering from cold and exposure and property damage estimated at several millions of dollars was done in the blizzard and sleet storm that swept the Midwest for the past 36 hours, meager reports from various points reveal; crippled wire service is holding up the reports; at Cape Girardeau, residents shivered last night as they experienced the coldest weather of the winter, the temperature sliding to 3 above zero; trains are six to 10 hours behind schedule, because of the ice and snow on tracks.

M.D. Thacker of Oran during the past week acquired the Liston Comer residence at 326 N. Middle St.; the house is an eight-room brick structure and was improved considerably by Comer several years ago; Thacker is a road contractor, and his family has already occupied the residence, having moved here in order that his children might enter the Teachers College and Central High School.

Southeast Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders compiles the information for the daily Out of the Past column. She also writes a weekend column called “From the Morgue” that showcases interesting historical stories from the newspaper.