25 years ago: Nov. 17, 1981

SIKESTON, Mo. -- A tense, 20-hour hostage ordeal ends at 6:15 a.m., when a gunman releases a 57-year-old Western Union clerk here and surrenders to police; the hostage is reported in stable condition at the Delta Community Hospital in Sikeston; the man arrested in the incident is from Haywood City, Mo.

Three Southeast Missouri men are among nine honored this week by the Missouri School Boards Association at its 15th annual joint convention with the Missouri Association of School Administrators at Lake of the Ozarks; they are Ollie Amick of Scott City, J.D. Faulkner of Kennett and Harold Todt of Oran.

50 years ago: Nov. 17, 1956

An agreement for the sale of Kimbel Truck Lines Inc., which has its four-state headquarters in Cape Girardeau, to Delta Motor Lines of Jackson, Miss., if permission is granted by the Interstate Commerce Commission, is announced by George Kimbel, president of the company.

As the 10th annual Missourian Art Exhibition gets underway in the evening at The Missourian building, an eclipse of the moon outside vies for the attention of patrons.

75 years ago: Nov. 17, 1931

Shipment of coal by barge on the Mississippi River to Cape Girardeau by the Marquette Cement Mfg. Co., will be continued; first shipment of coal via the railroad-river combination route plan has just men made by the company from Southern Illinois to its plant here; this plan is considered the beginning of a new system which will handle 115,000 to 120,000 tons of coal per year for the company.

Maj. Jimmy Doolittle, famous aviator whose home is in St. Louis, is at Devil's Island hunting club near McClure, Ill., for goose hunting; a number of Girardeans, including Raymond H. Brady and James A. Jackson, are in the hunting party.

100 years ago: Nov. 17, 1906

An unusual winter electrical storm woke Cape Girardeau residents about midnight last night and at other times during the night; the storm was accompanied by blinding sheets of lightning, hail, rain and wind.

George Cross and R.B. Andrews are again managing the skating rink in Cape Girardeau; the rink was recently remodeled and is one of the finest to be found.

-- Sharon K. Sanders