Out of the past: Jan. 1

1998

For the third straight year, the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is sponsoring a community-wide Kwanzaa observance; the celebration is being held at the Cape Girardeau Civic Center; people travel from as far away as Poplar Bluff and Kennett, Missouri, to attend the program of entertainment and education.

The Cape Girardeau County Genealogical Society is one of just 12 such groups in the U.S. and Canada recently awarded grants from Broderbund, a company which manufactures genealogy software; the county's importance to the westward migration into Missouri was one of the reasons stressed in applying for the grant, says Dawn Detring, the society's president; the copier being bought with the grant will enable it to copy death records from local churches; that information will be used to create the electronic index to local cemeteries.

1973

Southeast Missouri motorists set an unenviable record in 1972 as 174 persons were killed in traffic accidents on roads in the 14 counties of Troop E during the year; a Cape Girardeau youth, Melvin Lee Busch Jr., 18, became the 174th traffic fatality of the year in an accident Saturday night near Sikeston on Interstate 55.

1948

The old year bows out and a new one makes its debut to the accompaniment of a raw, gusty day that starts on the note of a 3.46-inch rain and ends with a trace of snowfall and icy pavements; the weather includes not only rain, snow and winds, often of gale force, but also a peppering of sleet; it cuts down on many a planned welcoming observances to the new year and keeps most families at warm firesides throughout the day.

The first baby born in Cape Girardeau in the new year -- a boy weighing 8 pounds, 2 1/2 ounces -- arrives at Southeast Hospital at 12:33 a.m. to Mr. and Mrs. Raymond H. Cook of Burfordville; through a hospital gesture and the Blue Cross plan, the Cooks will have no bill to pay.

1923

The Cape Girardeau County Court meets in regular session at Jackson, and William A. Sander takes his place as presiding judge; C.A. Vandivort, who had been presiding judge, moves to the place occupied for three terms by G.J. Keller, associate judge of District 2, which embraces Cape Girardeau.

J.W. Gerhardt, contractor for the new County Home, says the facility cannot be completed until a water supply is secured; a well man has drilled down 100 feet and hopes to strike water before long; as the new building has sanitary plumbing, it cannot be used until there is water, so the inmates are still housed in the old brick building at the County Farm; Black inmates are housed in the basement of the home, where they can keep warm.