Out of the past: Oct. 27

1993

The Yes Group, the committee formed to work for passage of riverboat gaming in Cape Girardeau Nov. 2, has raised three times as much money as Citizens Against Riverboat Gambling, the committee opposing the issue; the Downtown Merchants Association is by far the largest single contributor to the campaign, having donated $11,000 to the Yes Group on June 15.

Those who read the police, sheriff's and fire reports may have noticed the Cape Girardeau Fire Department has been running a lot of medical calls in recent weeks; in fact since the program was started on May 21, emergency medical responses have nearly doubled the total number of calls received by the fire department.

1968

The 15-mile stretch of Interstate 55 from New Madrid to Portageville, Missouri, is expected to be open for traffic around the latter part of November; some paving on the south end of the project, some shoulder work, and a bypass are the remaining work to be done on the road.

Shrubs and trees have been planted, ivy has been started as ground cover and the walks have been edged at Fort D by workers in the Town and County Garden Club in their continuing project of beautifying the Civil War relic, now a park and home of the Senior Citizens Club; club members this winter plan to find a Civil War cannon to be put in the old artillery emplacement.

1943

With 1,180 of its sons in the Navy and with a crack V-12 Navy Training Unit operating at State College, Cape Girardeau fittingly pays tribute on the occasion of Navy Day to this branch of the armed services; Mayor R.E. Beckman issues an official proclamation, flags are flown on the streets, and programs in keeping with the occasion are held in the schools, in many cases with Navy officers and personnel being present.

Knowing that migrating wild geese and ducks don't mix well with Army airplanes, Capt. Clark Simonds, commanding officer of the 73rd Army Air Forces Training Detachment at Harris Field issues special orders to flight instructors and cadets to stay clear of the Horseshoe Lake game preserve just across the Mississippi River in Illinois.

1918

PARIS -- Four Y.M.C.A. workers have been wounded by shrapnel during the last few days while serving American troops at the front, including the Rev. Herbert N. McKee of Fowler, California; McKee is well known in Cape Girardeau, having served as pastor of the Christian Church here for several years.

Mrs. Herman Sauerland of Cape Girardeau was relieved to receive a letter from her husband Friday, after having mourned him for dead the past two years; a few months before the Kaiser started the great world war, Sauerland, who was living and working in Cape Girardeau, went to Germany to settle an estate and bring his daughter to this country; before he could finish his mission, the war started and, as he was subject to call, he was placed in the German army and sent to the front.

-- Sharon K. Sanders