Out of the past: April 14

1994

The National Weather Service has revised its flood crest for Cape Girardeau downward, but leery county and municipal officials say they'll stay on alert until the crest passes, some time Saturday; unless there is significant precipitation across the Missouri River and Mississippi River valley area, forecasters say the Mississippi will crest here at 42.5 feet.

Tire Shredders Unlimited of High Ridge, Missouri, has set up shop off Nash Road, at the former Sam Tanksley Trucking building; the company is under contract with several area tire dealers to provide a portable tire shredder from time to time; the machine can shred 7,500 car tires a day; the waste material is being hauled to Lone Star Industries to be burned as fuel.

1969

Union cement finishers and district contractors reached agreement Saturday night on a wage package calling for $1.75 per hour increases over the three-year period of the contract; the agreement ends a strike that had shut down most commercial and public construction projects Friday in Southeast Missouri.

The Southeast Missouri Law Enforcement Council wants to establish a district crime laboratory on the State College campus here and plans to make a formal application May 1 for a federal grant of $25,000 to $50,000 to equip the facility.

1944

Slowed in its rate of rise, the Mississippi River reaches a stage of 30.9 feet here at 8 a.m., up 3 feet in 24 hours; the crest is lowered to 34 feet this evening, barring further rainfall; still, water is threatening the Smelterville area; the Arena Building is again available for families who desire to move out of flood areas.

Around 140 persons attend the annual meeting of the Potosi Presbytery and the annual spring conference of the Women's Auxiliary of the presbytery held at the local Presbyterian Church; every church in the organization is represented.

1919

Five hundred farmers and others interested in modern farming attended the Cleveland tractor demonstration yesterday afternoon on Perryville Road, back of Fairground Park; in one demonstration, the tractor pulled two 14-inch plows up a 20% grade, and the dirt just flew; then, up that same grade and over the freshly-plowed ground, the tractor pulled a tandem disc harrow weighing 1,500 pounds.

Christine Wheeler Randolph resumes her position as secretary of the Normal School in the morning; she recently arrived here from the East, where she had been for the last year; she was secretary of the Normal for a number of years before that.

-- Sharon K. Sanders