Out of the past: Nov. 5

1999

​Cape Girardeau Central High hung in there, but in the fourth quarter, Jackson kicked out the stool; the Indians hung Central with its ninth loss of the season, 36-10, in front of a huge crowd at Houck Stadium last night; the Tigers, who have not won a game at Houck in the last two seasons, held a 10-9 lead at halftime, but Jackson finally captured the lead late in the third quarter and pulled away in the fourth to improve to 9-1.

Water quality and navigation haven’t been adversely affected by the relatively low water stage of the Mississippi River in this drought year; in fact, the quality of water Cape Girardeau is taking from the river is better than usual; Kevin Priester, manager of the city’s water system, says the Mississippi is running clearer than normal because the absence of rain has reduced runoff, silt and turbidity.

1974

​Cape Girardeau County voters defeat a long-proposed County Public Health Unit, giving the proposition only 49% of the total vote; it is the fourth time in four years that the proposal has failed to receive the necessary two-thirds majority for passage; the 49% margin in favor of the unit represents its second worst defeat.

The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce building at 225 Broadway will be shut down Friday when the organization moves to its new offices at 601 N. Kingshighway; the old building lacks parking space, but that won’t be a problem at the new location, which formerly was the Dr. Thomas C. Sparkman office; the Broadway structure, formerly the Southeast Missourian office building, has been purchased by the adjacent First Presbyterian Church.

1949

​A near record construction total was piled up for the month of October, when building permits in the amount of $193,550 were compiled to bring the 1949 total with two months to go to $1,827,139; only one other October total in history surpassed the figure – 1947, when permits amounted to $206,625.

Three persons are under consideration for appointment as commissioner on the Cape Special Road District board to fill the vacancy caused by the death of A. Wayne Berry, whose term has slightly more than two years to run; named most prominently as possible appointees are Eddie Erlbacher, Melvin Rodibaugh and Lindsay W. Simmons.

1924

​Incomplete returns from the state indicate that the good roads proposal, Nov. 5, carried by a 2 to 1 majority in yesterday’s balloting; Southeast Missouri carried the proposal with a 4 to 1 majority; in Cape Girardeau, the vote for good roads was 3,070 for the proposal and 1,448 against it.

The Republican county ticket, with the exception of sheriff and a county judge, won at Tuesday’s election in Cape Girardeau County, but with the smallest majority in many years, incomplete returns show; William F. Schade, Democrat, has apparently won the race for sheriff over J.W. Miller, Republican; and Clyde A. Vandivort, Democrat, barely out balloted Emil Drusch, Republican, 2nd District county judge.

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.