1993

Hours after Gov. Mel Carnahan signs into law legislation that allows liquor stores, groceries and convenience stores to sell packaged alcoholic beverages on Sundays, Cape Girardeau City Councilman Al Spradling II asks for a similar local law; the local law will have its first reading at the council's June 21 meeting.

If absentee ballots are any indication, a large percentage of Cape Girardeau's 19,408 registered voters will likely turn out for tomorrow's election to determine whether riverboat gambling will be allowed in the city; absentee balloting is nearly comparable to that in November's general election.

1968

A makeshift memorial has been erected at the site of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's speech in Cape Girardeau's Town Plaza parking lot; a cross on the platform from which he spoke on April 25 contains the words, "His voice still echoes here."

Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Lloyd Dale Clippard Post 3838, vote in favor of acquiring a 42.5-acre tract of land for a new post home and recreational facility; the proposed site is just west of Interstate 55, between Gordonville Road and Bloomfield Road; a second vote will still have to be taken at the next meeting to fulfill the bylaws of the post.

1943

Cape Girardeau County Court, after reading and discussing a letter from the State Health Department, abandons the idea of constructing a hospital at the County Home; with the letter is a copy of the regulations and rules of the state board, which make it impossible to maintain such an institution here, because of the expense.

Cape Girardeau continues to fight its way back to normalcy following the recent record Mississippi River flood, but it now faces the prospect of another rise in the river, brought on by heavy rains; another inundation of the Smelterville suburb, just the past few days cleared of the flood water, is the immediate threat.

1918

President W.B. Biddle of the Frisco Railroad has notified the city of Cape Girardeau that he has been instructed by Federal Director W.G. McAdoo to proceed at once to construct a new passenger station and terminals at Cape Girardeau; the building of the depot at this time is due to the persistent efforts of Oscar A. Knehans, who as city counselor brought a suit before the Missouri State Utilities Commission to force the Frisco to build a new depot, as the present one is a constant menace to the traveling public.

Illmo is to be a regular river town with its own boat landing and a hard-surface road leading to it; this road will be built under the recent bond issue and will be one of the first ordered by the Scott County Court; the distance to the river is two miles, and the road will be graveled.

-- Sharon K. Sanders