Out of the past 7/5/12

25 years ago: July 5, 1987

The New Creations, a choral ensemble from Mid-America Teen Challenge Training Center in Cape Girardeau, gives a concert of gospel music at the Capaha Park band shell in the evening; director of the group is Philip Breithaupt.

A line of severe thunderstorms packing strong winds and heavy rain rumbles through the Cape Girardeau area in the afternoon, disrupting Independence Day picnics and outings; the storm blows down large trees, limbs and power lines, disrupting service.

50 years ago: July 5, 1962

Telephone service to Southeast Missouri Hospital and 24 other customers is severed in the morning when a construction crew, working on a new cable system alongside Capaha Park, damages the existing cable.

Grading for a new motel near the interchange of Interstate 55 at the Gordonville Road is nearly complete and pouring of the footings is expected to begin in 10 days, said Charles L. Drury, one of the owners; the Holiday Inn is expected to be finished early next spring.

75 years ago: July 5, 1937

Celebrating freedom, the local American Legion post puts on a big Independence Day picnic at Fairgrounds Park, ending the day with a mammoth fireworks display; other features of the picnic are baseball and softball games, Boy Scout demonstrations, band concerts and a free dance on the tennis courts.

Eight brothers of the Hecht family and a few guests depart for Current River, near Doniphan, Mo., for an annual fishing trip of eight to 10 days; the brothers are Louis and Irvin Hecht of Cape Girardeau, Abe Hecht of Ottawa, Ill., Alex Hecht of LaSalle, Ill., Max Hecht of Freeport, Ill., David Hecht of Peoria, Ill., Phillip Hecht of Decatur, Ill., and Julius Hecht of Poplar Bluff, Mo.

100 years ago: July 5, 1912

W.C. Haman departed yesterday for Memphis, Tenn.; from there he will go to Imboden, Ark., where his fruit farm is located; while there, Haman will rent a house adjoining his farm and move his family there in a few weeks.

The safe and sane Fourth of July that had been hoped for in Jackson didn't materialize; noise makers began their work early in the morning and kept at it all day and the greater part of the night; they burned enough powder to supply a small revolutionary army in Mexico for a month.

-- Sharon K. Sanders