Out of the past: March 17

2000

The fate of Riverfest in Cape Girardeau remains uncertain; the outdoor festival likely will be canceled for a lack of interest and planning, but no one with the Riverfest Association will confirm such reports; the annual festival, which offers strolling bands, food, crafts and a carnival, has been a tradition in downtown Cape Girardeau for 21 years.

Fewer than 10% of Southeast Missouri teachers attend a general session of the Missouri Teachers Association district meeting; the general session is held annually before a day of professional development workshops and department meetings; the event, held at Academic Auditorium at Southeast Missouri State University, attracts about 600 teachers, possibly the lowest attendance since the event started in 1876.

1975

Petitions are being circulated in Cape Girardeau asking the Board of Education for immediate reconsideration and reinstatement of two school administrators to their current positions for the 1975-1976 school year; a week ago, Supt. Charles E. House resigned under pressure and Eugene Sifford, principal at Central High School, was demoted.

The president-elect of Southeast Missouri State University – Dr. Robert E. Leestamper – spends his third day in Cape Girardeau as he continues efforts to become acquainted with the campus and the community; Leestamper, who will assume the presidency in July, meets with Dr. Mark F. Scully, the retiring president, and members of the President’s Advisory Council in the morning; that closed-door session goes so long, it cuts into the time slot for a meeting between Leestamper and interested students, forcing its cancelation.

1950

The Municipal Airport Board has approved a motion asking the Cape Girardeau City Council to convey by a quit claim deed approximately 7.9 acres of airport land for the new section of Highway 61; the motion asked that conveyance be made in return for payment of $1 by the State Highway Commission; the strip of land will be 120 feet wide alongside the present highway.

McCLURE, Ill. – Four cars of a halted Missouri Pacific freight train are derailed about four miles north of McClure early in the day, when a second section runs into its rear, knocking the cars from the track; none of the crewmen are seriously injured, and the tracks are cleared before noon.

1925

A new ordinance, aimed at “tree butchers” in Cape Girardeau, was adopted yesterday by the City Council; in addition to levying a fine for “butchering” trees along the streets, the ordinance makes it compulsory for property owners to trim the trees in front of their houses in “a proper manner”; the measure also directs the planting and propagation of certain types of trees and forbids the cultivation of others; forbidden trees are Carolina poplar, cottonwood, Lombardy poplar, tree of heaven, black locust, Russian mulberry and black gum.

CHARLESTON – Vest C. Myers, superintendent of Charleston’s public schools, has been elected superintendent of schools at Fulton, Kentucky; Myers, who was formerly president of the Southeast Missouri Teachers Association, is president of the Alumni Association of the Cape Girardeau Teachers College; he takes up his new duties July 1.

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.