Out of the past: Jan. 7

2000

Glenn Construction Co. of St. Louis presented the Cape Girardeau Board of Education an aggressive schedule to complete construction of a new high school within 33 months for $24.9 million during a special board meeting yesterday; the presentation, the third received by the board since December, was the first to come in under the $25 million ceiling the school board has set.

The local flu outbreak that has been filling emergency rooms is also increasing demand for two new influenza drugs; while the number of persons seeking treatment for flu-like symptoms at local ERs has leveled off from last week, the demand for prescription influenza medications Relenza and Tamiflu continues to be high.

1975

One new face on the Cape Girardeau County Court could drastically alter county politics and may mean $75,000 already spent or obligated on the new County Farm jail site will go down the drain; Presiding Judge Ervin Hobbs, who took office Jan. 12, expressed his opposition yesterday to spending $700,000 to build the county jail and sheriff’s office complex on the County Farm; Hobbs said: “I think we can build the new jail in Jackson for half that cost.”

A search, spearheaded by the Cape Girardeau Civic Center, is underway to find new living quarters for Lillie Campbell and her five children; a fire destroyed the Campbell home at 726 rear Giboney St. on Sunday night; Campbell was buying the home, but there was no insurance on it and only a small amount of insurance on a few pieces of furniture; Campbell had done considerable repairs on the three-room house, paneling one room, adding a kitchen and bath and repairing a porch.

1950

The hazards of driving on ice-covered roads are nothing compared to what rural residents, school bus drivers and rural mail carriers expect to face when the present glazed surface begins to thaw; from experience, they realize rural roads will grow progressively worse as January and February pile one freeze and thaw on top of another; if it is like last year, they face a nightmare, with the bottom of the roads falling out, isolating many farm families.

CHAFFEE — A plucky, quick-thinking lad of 12 probably saved the life of a Chaffee man whose clothing caught fire yesterday afternoon, by first tripping him and then bringing him to the ground a second time with a football type tackle; Paul Dees, son of Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Dees, rolled his neighbor, Roy L. Benfield, 34, in snow and ice, and then with the aid of two adults removed the burning clothing from the flash-fire victim; Benfield’s clothing caught fire when he threw gasoline into a stove, resulting in a flash explosion.

1925

The Chester, Illinois, ferryboat Edna, which had been caught in a jam of “shore” ice at the Cape Girardeau wharf, is worked loose in the morning and leaves shortly afterward for Mound City, Illinois, where it will go into winter quarters; during the recent cold weather, the Edna was stuck fast in the ice, and receding water left the boat high and dry; with a rise in the river, however, and softening of the ice as a result of warmer weather this week, heavy timbers are used by workers to place the boat back in the water.

Following yesterday’s small blaze at Broadway School, which left one child bruised after being trampled by his fellow pupils in their rush to exit the building, Fire Chief George French declares he will make regular inspections of school buildings here; principals and janitors will be held to the same regulations observed by business establishments when it comes to ridding schools of rubbish and inflammable material.

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.