Out of the past: Dec. 12

1994

ROCKVIEW, Mo. -- A two-story home went up in flames yesterday in Rockview, and firefighters and residents blame the destruction on the small town's lack of fire hydrants; firefighters from Chaffee, Missouri, Scott City and the New Hamburg-Benton-Commerce Fire Protection District battled the blaze at Ed and Barb Payne's home until mid-afternoon.

JEFFERSON CITY -- Missouri Secretary of State Judi Moriarty is forced from office by the state Supreme Court, which rules unanimously she committed impeachable misconduct by backdating her son's election paperwork; she is the first statewide official to lose office by impeachment.

1969

Cape Girardeau firefighters, working in their spare time over the past three weeks, have put together a Nativity scene on the north side of Fire Station No. 1 at Frederick and Independence streets; the donkey and sheep are real, on loan to the department by their owners; the other figures were manufactured by the firemen; human figures were built from store mannequins and plaster.

Vandals Wednesday night toppled the "Tree of Love" in front of Kent Library on the State College campus, but it is to be re-raised today; the 25- to 30-foot spruce was pushed to the ground after the guy wires supporting it were cut; most of its lights were stolen; the tree is sponsored by the Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority as a fund raiser for the Salvation Army's Tree of Lights.

1944

Mr. and Mrs. DuRee Jones of Jackson have received notice of the death of their grandson, Capt. Paul DuRee Caldwell, who was killed in action Nov. 20 in the European war theater; Caldwell was born in Jackson Oct. 30, 1919, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Elmer J. Caldwell.

Cape Girardeau County is "over the top" in Sixth War Loan bond sales; sales in the county totaled $1,043,288; the county's quota is $1,029,000.

1919

D'Nean Stafford, formerly president of the First National Bank of Cape Girardeau, is now president of the Central Bank of Phoenix, Arizona, a $3 million institution that holds a most commanding financial position in that state; B.C. Stafford, who continues to reside here, says his brother won't be giving up any of his interests in Cape Girardeau; he will retain his stock in the Liberty National Life Insurance Company and will keep his large land holdings in this territory intact.

John P. Mabrey, secretary of Cape County Milling Co. in Jackson, has just returned from Cuba, where he was on a trade trip for the milling company; he reports the temperature was 90 degrees when he left Cuba, and he also says the sugar crop there is large.

-- Sharon K. Sanders