Out of the past: Jan. 3

2000

Stan Popp has retired from the insurance business after more than 40 years; he began his career with American Family Insurance in March 1957 and, since then, has operated the agency at five locations; with his retirement, his office is being split into two new insurance branches: Laurel Addison will open at Eagle Peak Office Building, 760 S. Kinshighway, and Rob Dohogne will remain at the current office at 77 S. Plaza Way.

A winter storm packing heavy rain, hail and strong winds races through the Cape Girardeau area, damaging buildings and causing power outages; the storm downs power lines, leaving 5,600 residential and commercial customers of AmerenUE without electricity in Cape Girardeau, Delta and Chaffee; the storm dumps 1 to 3 inches of rain, on average, across Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois; strong winds — with speeds up to 70 mph and downbursts of 90 to 100 mph — cause major damage in the Cape Girardeau area.

1975

A proposal to enact a special tax levy to finance and maintain a residential facility for the adult handicapped and to finance operation of the Cape County Sheltered Workshop likely will be submitted to county voters in April; board members of the workshop, known as VIP Industries of Cape Girardeau, appeared before the County Court yesterday to inform it of the board’s intention to submit the issue to voters and to learn what steps should be taken to bring the proposal to a vote.

A pilot program established by the Missouri Division of Corrections, setting up centers in Cape Girardeau and four other cities in the state to serve prisoners released after completing a full sentence, may provide a key to keep ex-offenders from returning to prison; the new post-correctional program, which is the only one of its kind in the U.S., has set up six Community Service Centers across the state, including Cape Girardeau at 703 Broadway.

1950

Arriving at 11:24 p.m. yesterday, a daughter, born to Mr. and Mrs. Hosea Cairns of Perryville, was the first baby to be born in Cape Girardeau in 1950; the child, weighing 7 pounds, 5 ounces, was welcomed at Saint Francis Hospital; at Southeast Hospital, the first baby of the year is born today at 6:17 a.m.; Lloyd Richard Allen is born to Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Allen of Millersville, weighing 5 pounds, 3 ounces.

Establishment of 10th Congressional District census headquarters in the Culbertson Building at Dexter is officially announced; supervisor will be Lloyd Poe of Bloomfield; Poe, who has resigned as editor of the Bloomfield Vindicator, will be in Kansas City this week for a course of instruction covering details of the census; the Dexter office will be formally opened upon his return.

1925

Fewer than half of the ex-servicemen in Cape Girardeau County have applied for the bonus being given by the federal government, according to the Veterans Bureau, which is in charge of distributing the money; veterans may obtain forms to secure the bonus from the local post office, the Red Cross and the American Legion Post.

The women of Jackson’s Literary Club are now appealing to the general public for cooperation, not for funds; the club is hoping to secure a suitable room for the establishment of a small public library; for years, the club has worked toward that goal, and members now feel that enough books and publications have been accumulated to warrant the opening of a small reading room; the public is being asked to help secure a location uptown, free of rent, if possible.

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.