Out of the past: Oct. 26

1999

“Not in my back yard” is the message county commissioners have gotten so far in their quest to find a suitable site in Cape Girardeau for a new juvenile justice center; in September the commissioners looked at buying an 11-acre site on Clark Avenue, sandwiched between the Cape Girardeau Senior Center and the Christian School for the Young Years, but neighbors opposed the idea; the commission has moved on to other possible sites, but won’t publicly disclose them for fear it would generate more neighborhood opposition.

Cape Girardeau’s Mothers’ Against Drug Driving Community Action Team received national recognition for its work at a MADD awards ceremony in Albuquerque, New Mexico; it was selected as the community action team of the year out of more than 600 national chapters.

1974

The newly-established Gordonville Volunteer Fire Department is a 20-man unit equipped with two efficient pumpers and a water wagon; the all-volunteer department, headed by Chief Charles Skelton, who is also Gordonville’s mayor, has been undergoing extensive training under the direction of Bill Verbal, former Butler County Fire Department director.

The opening ceremonies for the Nutrition Center, 23 N. Middle St., sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Council on Aging, include an open house at the facility today and a grand opening Monday morning; Mrs. Thomas F. Eagleton, wife of Missouri’s junior U.S. senator, will attend Monday’s festivities; the grand opening will include the first dinner to be served at the new center; along with nutritious meals, the center will also provide a place for senior citizens to meet and for their clubs to gather.

1949

H.B. Newman of Cape Girardeau was elected president and three men were presented Silver Beaver awards for outstanding service to Scouting at the annual meeting of the Southeast Missouri Area Scout Council last night at Sikeston; the awards went to Byron E. Finley of Charleston, the Rev. Harold Nance of Malden and A.W. Blomeyer of Bloomfield.

Members of the Retail Merchants Association are hoping to meet with the Cape Girardeau City Council soon to work out some method of licensing itinerate firms doing business in the city; Chamber of Commerce secretary Weir M. Barcus notes there area number of crews in town selling merchandise door-to-door, without paying a gross revenue tax as do retail outlets here.

1924

Nearly 2,000 persons attend the two services at Centenary Methodist Church for “re-enlistment day” and show much interest in the sermons delivered by the new pastor, the Rev. H.C. Hoy.

Fire destroys the dwelling of James Goins in the southwest part of Cape Girardeau in the early afternoon; $300 in $15 20-dollar bills are burned in the fire, the property of Goins’ aged mother and representing a savings of many years; it had been secreted in a dresser in the house; all the furniture and the home are lost, and the total damage is estimated at $1,500; the nearest fireplug, says Fire Chief George French, is 770 feet away from the house.

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.