Out of the past 7/24/06

25 years ago: July 24, 1981

A five-year effort by the speech pathology faculty at Southeast Missouri State University has paid dividends in the form of accreditation for the university's graduate program in this field by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Missouri Gov. Kit Bond, who has been grappling with state budgetary problems since he took office in January, holds out little hope that any appropriations he has withheld from state agencies will be restored this fiscal year.

50 years ago: July 24, 1956

The Cape Girardeau School board yesterday approved an increase in tuition costs for out-of-district students, based on actual per-pupil expense; the tuition will be $195.96 for elementary pupils and $254.17 for high school pupils living outside the district for the new school year.

The general demand for the salvaging of the old Common Pleas Courthouse has become so persistent that Mayor Walter Ford has decided to appoint a special committee to make a study of the problem; the committee will consist of former Mayor Narvol A. Randol, contractor J.W. Gerhardt, historian and builder Benjamin Dietrich, and Missourian publisher Fred Naeter.

75 years ago: July 24, 1931

Two bandits, who last night stole an automobile in Cape Girardeau, later kidnapped a deputy at Clarkton, Mo., and successfully eluded a posse of 75 men who had surrounded a house in which they were hiding, are being sought by officers in a heavily wooded tract near Marston, Mo.

Work on remodeling the old telephone company building at Broadway and North Ellis Street is being pushed; the second floor, being fitted for office suites, will be finished about Aug. 1, and the first floor, which will house a large jewelry store for Joe L. Moseley Inc., will be completed about Aug. 15.

100 years ago: July 24, 1906

Prosecuting Attorney Charles Daues is making an enviable record as a prosecutor of violators of the law; he has nailed the lid down so tight that many old guzzlers nearly perish from thirst on Sundays; gamblers as well have felt the force of his courage in convincing them that the money of Cape Girardeau isn't for them.

Ernest "Skinny" Moeder is elected a member of the Cape Girardeau City Council from the second ward; this isn't a new honor for him, as he has been a member of that august body before.

-- Sharon K. Sanders