Out of the past: June 29

1993

High water in the Mississippi River may shorten the distance for the Great Steamboat Race from New Orleans to St. Louis this weekend, but plans for a four-hour stop by the Mississippi Queen and Delta Queen steamboats at Cape Girardeau are still on.

Cape Girardeau sales tax receipts for the 1993 fiscal year that ends tomorrow will exceed budget projections and enable the city to compensate for sagging city revenue in 1991-92; comptroller John Richbourg said sales tax revenue this year has increased more than 7 percent over last year's receipts.

1968

A general-alarm blaze early in the morning destroyed the main section of the 65-year-old Idan-Ha Hotel, at the southwest corner of Broadway and Fountain Street; the hotel had been vacated only two weeks ago after being declared unsafe; the fire also destroyed a dress shop and restaurant beneath the hotel, as well as badly damaged the hotel's remaining sections and six other nearby businesses.

New restaurants are in the process of completion in Cape Girardeau and will be open for business soon; Shakey's, a nationwide pizza chain, is set to open July 2 at the corner of Ellis and Broadway; McDonald's, a new nationwide hamburger chain, is nearing completion on West Broadway and will be opened in August by Jerry Davis; Lums, another national restaurant chain, has completed a new building in the 2100 block of William Street.

1943

The Mississippi River should be falling at Cape Girardeau, but it isn't; despite the predicted crest, the river rose 17-100ths of a foot overnight to 36.67 feet; river watchers say Girardeans should see an appreciable fall in the Mississippi starting tomorrow.

Doris Mabrey, who had been on the teaching staff of the Cape Girardeau public schools but was unassigned, has been appointed principal of Lorimier School by the board of education; she served last spring as acting principal at Lorimier, after being a high school and supervisory instructor for several years.

1918

Girardeans are wondering if there will be ice cream for the Fourth or "long cold ones" on hot summer nights; some of the ice dealers in Cape Girardeau have taken issue with the City Council, which yesterday passed an ordinance compelling all ice dealers to sell by the weight rather than "by the chunk," as has been the practice.

On orders from his physician, Rep. Joseph J. Russell has canceled his engagement to speak at Cape Girardeau July 4; Russell suffered a slight stroke of paralysis recently and, although he is making improvements slowly, his physician has forbidden any mental or physical exertion.

-- Sharon K. Sanders