Out of the past: July 5

1992

SIKESTON, Mo. -- A "small explosion" abruptly ended a July Fourth display at Sikeston last night, when nearly $7,000 worth of fireworks exploded within seconds. Two members of the Sikeston Elks Lodge 2319 received minor injuries but were treated and released from the Missouri Delta Medical Center Hospital.

The Rev. F. Jan Bengtson, pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Wataga, Illinois, since October 1986, retired from the ministry in June. Prior to his pastorate at Wataga, Bengston served as pastor of St. Mark Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau for almost three years.

1967

Cape Girardeau city workers erect the last signs allowing right turns on red lights here. All intersections with electric traffic signals now have the signs. A city ordinance allows right turns on red lights where signs are posted, after cars first come to a stop.

Brush and weeds will be cleared from the two islands in the lagoon at Capaha Park when the lake, swollen by recent rains, has lost enough water to make the work possible. Enough growth will be removed to improve the islands' looks, but to retain as much foliage as possible to serve as nesting places and cover for the waterfowl on the lake.

1942

The Cape Girardeau Tigers win their fourth straight game of the baseball season by defeating Gordonville, 4-1, at Gordonville. The game is a pitchers' battle between Jack Robertson of the Tigers and Kenneth Vangilder of Gordonville, with the former allowing just four hits and the latter three. Vangilder fans 18 batters.

Wheat is rolling to market, and the flow will continue until the threshing period ends in three or four weeks; however, the government loan rate being comparatively high, many farmers aren't putting their grain on the open market, but are storing it at the government-loan rate. The Scott County Milling Co., with mills and elevators at Sikeston, Oran and Dexter, Missouri, reports nearly 99 percent of the wheat now threshed is being stored for the government loan.

1917

SIKESTON, Mo. -- The Scott County Milling Co. begins grinding new wheat in the morning, the first of the season. The quality is fine, and from this time on, the big mill will be busy.

Capt. Wilson Bain says if the young men from other towns who have enrolled in the Cape Girardeau company of the Sixth Regiment can secure employment here for the next month, they will be able to attend drills more regularly and in consequence can be given more instructions in military affairs.

-- Sharon K. Sanders