Out of the past: Jan. 2

1996

After serving eight months on the Cape Girardeau Board of Education, Robert Blank is asking voters to put him on the board for three more years; Blank becomes the first candidate to file for the school board.

All five incumbents and two other candidates file for five seats opening on the Jackson Board of Aldermen; aldermen David Ludwig, David Reiminger, Glenn Oldham and Fred Leimer all announce their candidacies for re-election, filing soon after City Hall opens; Kerry Hoffman, appointed to the seat vacated by Kevin Sawyer's resignation, says he would like to be re-elected and complete the year left on Sawyer's unexpired term; Larry Cunningham, who owns a Jackson appraisal service, files in Ward I and John Powers in Ward IV.

1971

BENTON, Mo. -- Scott County doesn't have a magistrate because Lloyd G. Briggs, who was to assume the post Jan. 1, didn't appear for the swearing-in ceremony; Briggs, a former circuit clerk who allegedly owes the county $450 because of a shortage in county funds uncovered in a state audit, was scheduled to take the oath office for magistrate court judge yesterday morning in the courthouse here.

Notre Dame's Bulldogs ended a decade of basketball frustration in the College High holiday tournament Thursday night; Coach Ed Arnzen's blue-and-white clad skirmishers used a tenacious, carefully organized zone defense and had top-notch performances from a pair of reserves to cop the big trophy for the first time ever with a one-point, 77-76, overtime victory over top-seeded Charleston Bluejays.

1946

Bound from Lockport, Illinois, to New Orleans on the first leg of a cruise to Chile, where they will be put in the export trade to the United States, the Utica and Fred W. Sargent, two of the largest ships to ever use the Mississippi River, continue on their way, shepherded by the towboat Jefferson; the two vessels, each only slightly smaller than a Liberty Ship, went aground 10 days ago on a sandbar near Bainbridge, Missouri; the Sargent was floated loose first and docked here Saturday, then was joined yesterday by the Utica.

U.S. Attorney Harry B. Blanton, here for Federal Court, says he hasn't been apprised by the Department of Justice as to what further steps it plans to take in the Cape Girardeau post office site case; he says, however, he has recommended that the government continue action in the matter.

1921

The Rev. S.M.. Robinson, presiding elder of the Dexter, Missouri, district, and a resident of Cape Girardeau, is against dancing and doesn't care who knows it; he says so in his sermon at Centenary Methodist Church in the morning, speaking in terms even the children present understand; Robinson, who is filling the pulpit for the pastor, says he opposes schools encouraging dances and is against the Friday night dances permitted at the State College here.

St. Edward's Catholic Church of Dutchtown holds a Christmas celebration at the Woodman Hall in Dutchtown; there is a tree and lots of presents for the children, and older folks are entertained with a box supper.

-- Sharon K. Sanders