Out of the past 7/7/05

25 years ago: July 7, 1980

Cape Girardeau County Court's chances of receiving a $250,000 grant from the Missouri Council on Criminal Justice to build 12 new cells in the Cape Girardeau County Jail appear to be dim, says presiding Judge Gene Huckstep; the court made the application on the grounds that the jail, with expansion, could serve as a regional jail facility.

Fire of undetermined origin erupts in the morning at the Ceramo Co. plant in Jackson and continues into the afternoon, with firefighters from both Cape Girardeau and Jackson battling to control the blaze.

50 years ago: July 7, 1955

Air Force Lt. Milford E. Seabaugh of Jackson has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross; Seabaugh is serving with the 4024th Bomb Squadron; he is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Emerson Seabaugh of Sedgewickville, Mo.

An order from the State Tax Commission raises Cape Girardeau County's real estate assessed valuation by $12,470,855 and at the same time moves the county upward from third-class to second-class designation.

75 years ago: July 7, 1930

SIKESTON, Mo. -- After battling flames for an hour and a half, the Sikeston fire department and scores of volunteers succeed in bringing under control a fire which for a time threatened destruction of mill "A" of the Sikeston Milling Co., the largest flour manufacturing plant in Southeast Missouri; damage is estimated at more than $50,000.

The county court, meeting in Jackson, orders a reward of $500 for information leading to the apprehension and conviction of the men who recently attempted to extort $2,500 from several prominent Cape Girardeau men; the court's pledge brings the reward total to $1,500.

100 years ago: July 7, 1905

The boys of Company K are hustling around preparing to leave early tomorrow for the state militia encampment at Lake Contrary, near St. Joseph, Mo.; the advance detail left yesterday to have everything in readiness when the young soldiers arrive.

While working at the quarry south of the city where stone is being cut for the dormitory at the Normal School, Paul Leming has his arm torn and bruised in the evening, and it is a wonder the bones aren't broken; his arm is caught while he assists in the installation of a pump in a well.

-- Sharon K. Sanders