Out of the past 7/16/11

25 years ago: July 16, 1986

In the wake of Monday's severe storm which caused an estimated $2 million worth of damage here, Cape Girardeau Mayor Gene Rhodes says he would like to see the City Council look into the possibility of obtaining a disaster warning system.

The city of Cape Girardeau has been awarded a $428,972 matching grant for the municipal airport; the funds will be used to resurface the aircraft parking apron and taxi-way, install taxi-way lighting, and replace the airport beacon, which dates to World War II.

50 years ago: July 16, 1961

Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, internationally-known American prelate and U.S. director for the Propagation of the Faith, will speak in Cape Girardeau Sept. 3; Sheen will address a banquet audience that evening in the Notre Dame High School auditorium.

A car driven by a Cape Girardeau youth was chased by police last night at speeds up to 85 miles per hour before it outdistanced the police car; a few minutes later, officers found the car on North Sprigg Street Road sitting in the center of the street, after it had hit a utility pole and clipped six concrete fence posts; the driver, unhurt, was charged with careless and imprudent driving.

75 years ago: July 16, 1936

Cape Girardeau welcomes hundreds of delegates to the 34th annual convention of the Missouri Association of Rural Letter Carriers; the convention formally opens at State College auditorium in the evening.

BELLEVILLE, Ill. -- A Cape Girardeau, Mo., truck driver reports he was held captive for 14 hours by a gang of hijackers, who stole his $7,000 truckload of whisky bound for Moon Distributing Co. in Cape Girardeau; he says a gang stopped his truck and seized him at 5 p.m. yesterday as he was approaching the Cape Girardeau bridge on the Illinois side; he was released this morning after an all-night ride.

100 years ago: July 16, 1911

No morning services are held in the morning at Trinity Lutheran Church; in the evening, the Rev. G.J. Meyer of Egypt Mills preaches in the English language.

The house occupied by Vaughan Priest at Jackson burned to the ground yesterday morning, the fire starting from the ignition of a can of gasoline in the kitchen; the residence was a large, two-story veneered brick, owned by Al McGuire.

-- Sharon K. Sanders