Out of the past: Sept. 12

1994

The 139th SEMO District Fair is officially opened with a parade from Capaha Park to the fairgrounds at Arena Park; the sixth annual horse show actually started things off yesterday, with around 330 entrants in the six-hour event; before the grandstand tonight will be the demolition derby.

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- TG (U.S.A.), which operates out of a 200,000-square-foot structure here and employs more than 650 employees, has announced plans to double the size of its facility; the company manufactures hundreds of automobile parts.

1969

CAIRO, Ill. -- Cairo Mayor Leo P. Stenzel yesterday ordered emergency measures in answer to confrontations racking the downtown area since Saturday; crowds of up to 400 whites are reported to have surrounded United Front pickets in the downtown area the past week, exchanging remarks and insults; several units of the Illinois State Police have joined Cairo officers in patrolling the city.

Rural residents, taking advantage of All Counties Day at the SEMO District Fair, join in activities at the Arena Park; the Blue Grass Shows will perform tonight, as will the Joie Chitwood Thrill Show.

1944

The community development and research subcommittee of the Committee for Economic Development met last night at the Chamber of Commerce building to discuss plans for a post-war Cape Girardeau; the subcommittee has proposed construction of a new community building, swimming pool, grandstand, band shell and senior high school.

A proposal to improve three blocks of Normal Drive, east from the State College campus at Pacific Street across Sprigg to Frederick, was discussed yesterday at a joint meeting of the Cape Special Road District board and the City Council; agreement was reached on improving the street with blacktop material, with curbs and gutters to be constructed at least along the block west of Sprigg.

1919

Capahas manager Dep Barenkamp has been advised by a friend in St. Louis that Will Koenigsmark, the Perryville, Missouri, pitcher who is trying out with the Cardinals this week, is scouring St. Louis for good baseball players to bring with him to Cape Girardeau Sunday for the game against the Caps; Barenkamp, too, is making an effort to "load up" the infield and battery; Ebb. Ellis, a right-hander from Piggott, Arkansas, has agreed to pitch, and the St. Louis Browns are loaning out a young catcher named Meyers.

The river gauge at Cape Girardeau is 7.5 feet, the lowest it has been for some time; a government dredge boat, the Fort Gage, is up in the morning making soundings and, where necessary, cutting a channel for the Sprague, the government towboat that was tied up here all night with four barges; the Sprague and the barges both draw about 6.5 feet of water.

-- Sharon K. Sanders