Out of the past: Feb. 8

2000

​Cape Girardeau County Extension officials hope to be in a new facility next fall, with work on the project to start next week; Wesbecher Construction Co., from the Marble Hill area, will build the 8,000-square-foot extension and education center; it should be completed in September.

By noon, the grass and a few inches of sod are missing from Southeast Missouri State University’s football field; the look of the Houck Stadium gridiron will change over the next month in preparation for a bed to support the new FieldTurf brand of synthetic grass to be installed by Vibra-Whirl of Panhandle, Texas; Nip Kelley Construction Co., a subcontractor on the project, started removing the grass yesterday and is expected to complete that task today.

1975

​Southeast Missouri State University officials late yesterday said they will do everything within their power to save a 60-year-old elm tree; it stands on the site where the university is constructing its new student parking lot, at the corner of Pacific and Watkins streets; the tree’s safety from damage by large construction machinery became a controversy after members of the River City Garden Club in Cape Girardeau asked that it be saved.

The question of illegal traffic control in the City of St. Marys has resurfaced with a strongly-worded open letter from Rep. Vernon E. Bruckerhoff, R-St. Marys, to Mayor William Schwent requesting public scrutiny of the city’s traffic control operations; Bruckerhoff charges he has received numerous complaints of not only cars being stopped and drivers being ticketed indiscriminately, but the more serious accusation of a fee-splitting arrangement between police officers and the city judge.

1950

​The projected sale of the Broadway School building, under consideration by the school board, brings inquiries as to what may be done with it and the site, together with some suggestions as to their future use; the building, once declared unsafe for school use, is now living quarters for married veterans attending State College; one of the dominant suggestions for the building is that it be retained by the city and revamped for use as a youth center.

Lt. Cmdr. Ralph G. Wright Jr. of Cape Girardeau last night assumed command of the surface division at the Naval Reserve Training Center at the municipal airport; he succeeded Lt. Cmdr. D.W. Gilmore of Benton; also assuming new duties were Lt. Cmdr Harold Duncan of Farmington, administrative assistant to the commanding officer, and Lt. C.P. Harris of Cape Girardeau as executive officer.

1925

​A.F. Hendrix, president of Will Mayfield College at Marble Hill, occupies the pulpit at the morning service at First Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau; preaching at the church in the evening is the Rev. A.S.J. Aldridge, district head of the Missouri Anti-Saloon League; the Rev. J. Pendleton Scruggs, the pastor, is absent, as he is assisting in a revival meeting at Bloomfield.

ORAN — Death ends the suffering of Silas V. Murchison, Oran high school athlete, who had been paralyzed for six months as a result of a broken neck sustained in a dive into a shallow pool of water on his father’s farm last August; Murchison, 21, is the son of Mr. and Mrs. D.S. Murchison, prominent residents of near Oran.

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.