1996

City leaders mingled with the public yesterday at the Jackson City Hall open house, beaming like proud parents and pointing out all the building's special features; the city left the old City Hall on South High Street Dec. 29 and opened at the Court Street building on Jan. 2; the new building, formerly occupied by Boatmen's Bank, had been appraised at more than $1 million; the city paid $625,000 for it and invested another $125,000 in renovations and furnishings; the result is a larger, more modern facility to house city offices and the library.

Motivational speaker Bill Sanders spoke to more than 3,000 Southeast Missouri area teachers Friday at the 120th annual Southeast Missouri District Teachers Meeting at the Show Me Center; the meeting offers teachers a chance to regroup and recharge as they head into the final stretch of the school year.

1971

Although damage resulting from Sunday night's storm appears to be mounting rapidly, it shouldn't compare with the high losses from three hail storms since the 1949 tornado, insurance adjusters believe; practically all insurance companies in Cape Girardeau have filed claims for damages from the recent storm, but none indicate it will compare with damages from a hail storm which struck the entire city in 1953 and others in the northern and west portions in 1958 and 1963.

Women's liberation is even infiltrating the Boy Scouts of America; the Exploring Division of Boys Scouts will admit teen-age girls to full membership beginning April 1, says Connie M. Hay, executive of the Southeast Missouri Council; the BSA's national executive board recently approved the action, ending the high school-age Explorer program as an all-male institution.

1946

After a visit to Cairo, Illinois, yesterday, City Commissioner Charles Schweer and City Attorney R.P. Smith came back firmly convinced Alexander County plans to go through with the purchase of the traffic bridge at Cape Girardeau; the only organized resistance to the purchase has been in the McClure, Illinois, area; according to Smith, there is no legal means whereby the City of Cape Girardeau can halt the plan.

Fifty-one airplanes were sold yesterday at Harris Field to representatives of the aviation industry from 12 states and the Panama Canal Zone; the big field day at the port was occasioned by a radical reduction by the government in the price tags on its war surplus craft, about 600 of which are still left at the field; the total price for the lot purchased was about $35,000.

1921

A break in one of th gas mains of the Public Utilities Company causes a loss of about 50,000 feet of gas in Cape Girardeau in the morning, and it continues to escape, as the leak hasn't been found; industries in the city using gas are handicapped during the day, and many dinners aren't prepared because of the trouble.

With a large number of Masons from Illmo Lodge No. 581 A.F. & A.M., and an escort of Royal Arch Masons from Wilson Chapter No. 75 in Cape Girardeau attending at the grave, the body of Dr. Lee S. Mayfield of Illmo is laid to rest in Fairmount Cemetery in Cape Girardeau; Mayfield spent many years in Illmo and, as a resident of Scott County, he held a foremost place.

-- Sharon K. Sanders