Out of the past: Jan. 20

2000

A pipe bomb found early in the day on the west bank of the Mississippi River near the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge construction site was intentionally detonated by specially trained law enforcement officers last night; two officers from the Missouri Highway Patrol explosives detonation unit and three agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms used a device called a “disrupter” to send a charge into the homemade bomb, blowing it up.

JEFFERSON CITY – A $1.8 million request for Cape Girardeau’s new vocational-technical school was left out of Gov. Mel Carnahan’s proposed state budget for the upcoming fiscal year; however, an official wit the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education says the absence of the the funding was an oversight, and the project’s funding will likely be added.

1975

Mr. and Mrs. R.C. Colletti and their son and daughter-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Colletti, have acquired space in the old Idan-Ha Hotel building from the owner, Burton Gerhardt; they plan to open a new Coletti’s Restaurant early in February; the location was formerly occupied by the short-lived Bon Apetit Restaurant; the closed Algerian Lounge, in the basement of the building, has been acquired and reopened by Dr. Joseph Busciglio, a Cape Girardeau chiropractic physician, who is the brother of Mrs. R.C. Colleti

The field of candidates for the two three-year seats on the Cape Girardeau Board of Education broadens with the filing of James E. Green, an employee of Atlas Plastics Corp; he is the fourth candidate to file for election, the other candidates being Charles E. Weber, Thomas L. Meyer and Jerry W. Ford, the latter two incumbents; Weber is a former member of the board.

1950

Evacuees of the Birds Point Floodway, scanning river reports showing crested conditions and chances of a gradual fall, begin to consider the possibility of an early return to their farm homes; the flooding Ohio River crested yesterday at Cairo, Illinois, at 55.3 feet and has dropped a tenth of a foot; at Cape Girardeau, the Mississippi fell from 29.3 feet yesterday to 28.2 feet this morning.

Already suffering from burns, Pvt. Leroy Brazeal, 18-year-old Illmo soldier, dashed back into an inferno to assist a lieutenant who was caught by flames which destroyed a portion of their station, Camp Carson, Colorado; the incident happened Tuesday, and the young soldier was so badly burned he didn’t regain consciousness until Thursday afternoon; it was then that he talked with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Amos Brazeal of Illmo by long-distance telephone; young Brazeal had been helping with the fighting of a forest fire which covered a large part of his camp and which destroyed many of the camp records, buildings and supplies.

1925

JEFFERSON CITY – Thomas J. Brown of Charleston is appointed chairman of the Missouri Public Service Commission by Gov. Sam A. Baker; Brown had been holding the position under a recess appointment by Gov. A.M. Hyde.

The Cape Girardeau City Council unanimously authorizes the issuance of a license to James A. Barks to operate the Prescott Hotel on Main Street; it is explained the license goes to James A. Barks, formerly a storekeeper at Allenville, who recently moved here and not to the current mayor of Cape Girardeau with the same name.

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.