Out of the past: Jan. 26

2000

Show Me Center patrons would be drinking only Pepsi products over the next decade under a contract being considered by Southeast Missouri State University; Pepsi would pay $200,000 the first year and from $1,500 to $30,000 annually for the next 10 years under an exclusive contract the Board of Regents will take up tomorrow; Southeast previously hasn’t engaged in exclusive contracts with soft-drink vendors but has left open the option.

The Cape Girardeau Civic Center has until March 1 to pay off its $46,000 mortgage, and yesterday it received its first donation in a drive to reach that goal; the Breakfast Optimist Club donated $5,000 toward paying off the mortgage on the center at 232 Broadway.

1975

Kathryn Tenkhoff of Sikeston is the 1975 Maid of Cotton, a national honor that carries with it the responsibility of serving as goodwill ambassador for the entire cotton industry; she was welcomed home this week for a coffee given in her honor in Sikeston; Tenkhoff, a senior at the University of Missouri-Columbia, is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alton G. Tenkhoff of Sikeston and granddaughter of Mrs. George D. Tenkhoff of Columbia.

Shivering puppies and dogs at Cape Girardeau’s Small Animal Shelter will soon get relief from cold winter weather; officials at the Cape Girardeau Police Department say the shelter is in line for renovation work by DAKA Construction Co., of Cape Girardeau, totaling $1,400; John Carter, shelter supervisor, says plans call for re-roofing of the pens, construction of removable walls and repair of the drainage system.

1950

At Cairo, Illinois, the weather bureau reports in the afternoon that the Ohio River there will rise to a crest of 54.4 or 54.5 feet in the next two or three days; the stage is currently 53.8 feet; it is explained that more than an inch of rain fell from Evansville, Indiana, to Uniontown, Kentucky, and lesser amounts above Evansville; in addition, on Wednesday 1.4 feet of water was let through the locks at Gilbertsville Dam on Kentucky Lake, where water is close to the top.

A crackling midnight thunderstorm, preceded and accompanied by gale-like winds, sends the temperature plunging 45 degrees from a springlike 73 yesterday to a shivering 28 this morning; the electrical display brings a rainfall of 2.02 inches to add to January’s record-breaking total; precipitation so far this month stands at 13.85 inches.

1925

Crowded to capacity at both the morning and night services, the two-week revival meeting opened auspiciously at Grace Methodist Church yesterday; the large crowds showed considerable interest in the sermons of Dr. William H. Hesse of Penrose, Colorado, the evangelist.

Tom Scott, former chief deputy sheriff of Scott County, has accepted a position with the Frisco Railroad as a special agent and has been stationed at Chaffee; he will work on the Cape-River Division of the railroad, covering approximately 700 miles.

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.