Out of the past: Aug. 19

1990

International students at Southeast Missouri State University are treated to an American-style picnic at Capaha Park, compliments of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's University Relations Committee.

SEMO District Fair's newly formed "Friends of the Fair" group holds a picnic at Arena Park; Ben Kight, president of the group, thanks members for their support and asks them to consider volunteering time at the fair this year.

1965

Herman Swafford Jr., operator of Swafford's Body and Paint Shop, filed yesterday as a candidate for Cape Girardeau's first city council under the city manager system.

Growth of Cape Girardeau's public school system's physical plant is taking place in two major phases; the complete modernization of the Louis J. Schultz School on Pacific Street is running a tight race with the Sept. 1 opening-of-school deadline; matters are less urgent at Hopper Road, where Hawthorn Elementary School is under construction; school officials don't expect to occupy that building until midwinter.

1940

The county will dispense with its welfare officer for the present and will transfer his duties to social workers now in the field; the County Court decides not to appoint an officer to succeed the late Charles Frentzel; his paid expenses and $700 annual salary totaled about $1,500 a year.

Oscar Windisch and Jim Daughdrill, enjoying a spin on the Mississippi River in an outboard motorboat, are tossed into the river when Windisch makes a quick turn with the craft opposite Themis Street; Ben Funk, owner of a seaplane moored at the foot of Broadway, maneuvers his plane across the water to rescue the men as they cling to the overturned boat.

1915

The Robinson Shows circus arrives by rail in a rainstorm; after waiting an hour or more at the yards, the circus train is placed on the main track and unloaded; wagon after wagon is drawn over muddy streets to the circus grounds, where more mud is encountered; the newspaper prints the best routes that should be taken by pedestrians and automobiles for the evening show because of the quagmire.

Louis Brunke, Joe Price, Willis Martin and Joe Green are doing special police duty; they were appointed by the mayor to help out the regular force for circus day.

-- Sharon K. Sanders