Out of the past: June 24

1997

Work on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge at Cape Girardeau is being concentrated on pier 2; looking at the next concrete pour for the pier, it is located on the Missouri shore of the Mississippi near Aquamsi Street; work on the pier was temporarily set back recently, when the reinforcing steel bar used in the construction of a portion of the concrete tower fell over; the steel is used to reinforce a section of the 350-foot concrete tower of the bridge.

Former Southeast Missouri State University president Dr. Bill Stacy has been hired as chancellor of the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga; Stacy, 58, begins the job Aug. 1; for the past eight years he has served as president of California State University-San Marcos; he helped launch the new school after leaving Southeast in 1989.

1972

A new service station scheduled to open next week is extensively damaged by fire early in the morning, and authorities are investigating the possibility of arson; the station, on Highway 61 just east of the Jackson city limits, is owned by George F. Bockhorst; designed for self-service operation, the mobile home in which the pump controls are located is completely destroyed; the canopy over the pumps receives only minor heat damage, and the fire doesn't reach the 20,000 gallons of gasoline in above-ground storage.

Plans for the proposed improvement of William Street (Route K) in Cape Girardeau has reached the stage where the Missouri Highway Commission is seeking approval for the design from the Federal Highway Commission; as approved by the state commission, preliminary design plans call for widening William to four lanes of pavement from Kingshighway to South Sprigg Street, a distance of almost two miles.

1947

In a light turnout of voters, but more than expected, Cape Girardeau County yesterday chose Alvin Klaus, Republican of Friedheim and Jackson, as sheriff at a special election; he'll serve the remaining 18 months of the term of the late Herman K. Sewing; on the basis of complete unofficial returns, Klaus defeated his Democratic opponent, Walter H. Ford, a Cape Girardeau school teacher, by 161 votes.

Bids, running considerably higher than estimates, are received by the State College Board of Regents on two proposed college buildings; after examining the bids for a dormitory and the Student Service Building, the board set July 21 as the date of another meeting to determine whether to accept any of the bids or reject them.

1922

Three hundred people gather at the municipal swimming pool in Fairground Park in the morning to witness the demonstration in life saving made by N.E. Raacke of St. Louis; Geraldine Tallent assists in the exhibition; Raacke announces that Cape Girardeau attorney Kenrick Burrough will be giving instructions in life saving to a class being organized by Gladys Roberts, executive director of the local Red Cross.

PUXICO, Mo. -- Leading citizens of Dexter, Advance, Bernie and Essex, the largest towns in Stoddard County, Missouri, warn that unless residents of Bloomfield, Missouri, drop all talk of attempting to abolish township organizations and bring pressure to bear on Ralph Wammack, attorney from Bloomfield and delegate to the Constitutional Convention, to force him to discontinue attempts to make township organization illegal, a concerted fight will be made to move the county seat from Bloomfield.

-- Sharon K. Sanders