Out of the past: Dec. 29

1997

Local bird watchers were out in the wild this weekend taking part in the annual Christmas Bird Count, a tradition almost a century old; local Christmas bird counters are among more than 45,000 volunteers participating in the National Audubon Society 98th Christmas Bird Count; members of the local Four Seasons Audubon Society will be counting birds over the next three weeks.

The last time Betty Kuss and her eighth grade classmates saw each other in one place was the spring of 1950; in the afternoon, the group of Leopold, Missouri, classmates is at least partially reunited in Woodard's Cafe in Jackson; five members of the 1950 eighth grade class at St. John's Grade School catch up on half a century of lost history over dinner and coffee; four of the 61-year-old classmates, including Kuss, Carol Ann Clippard Beussink, Helen Thiele Beussink and David Elfrink, now live and work in the Cape Girardeau area; Maureen Elfrink, who works as a Catholic missionary, lives in Santaren, Para, Brazil.

1972

Rural areas of Cape Girardeau County are virtually without fire protection, and the situation may continue for several days; the pump on the Cape County Volunteer Fire Department's truck stopped operating yesterday afternoon as firemen battled a blaze at an outbuilding stocked with tires at Tanksley Trucking Co. on old Highway 61 South; by coaxing the pump along as the water fluctuated between zero and 100 pounds, firemen were able to wet down the burning building and tires before the pump came to a complete halt.

JEFFERSON CITY -- A Cape Girardeau firm, Sides Construction Co., has the low base bid for construction of a new highway patrol Troop E headquarters south of Sikeston, Missouri; the Sides bid will not necessarily be the one awarded, since several extra charges for related work and other matters have to be examined; the Division of Planning and Construction is prevented by a court order from awarding any contracts for the structure.

1947

McCLURE, Ill. -- Two persons were slightly injured Saturday afternoon when a Chevrolet automobile ran into the end of the R Club tavern; the accident occurred when Ben Brown of McClure, driving south in a 1935 model car, attempted to turn into a side road and failed to make the turn; the club is across the street from the Villa and is some 300 feet from the site of the 21 Club, which was destroyed by fire earlier in the day; Mr. and Mrs. Elvis Caldwell operate the R Club, and flying glass inflicted some cuts on Mrs. Caldwell's legs.

A four-point buck deer is killed in the morning on Highway 25, four miles north of Bloomsdale, Missouri, when it dives into the side of a moving St. Louis-Cape Lines bus; none of the 10 passengers are injured, and the vehicle isn't damaged; the driver says deer are seen frequently along the highway in the Bloomsdale area.

1922

The future of the Cape Girardeau County Health Service will be determined at the meeting of the County Court at Jackson on Monday; officials of the service will ask the court for a continuance of the appropriation of $1,500 made last year for the establishment of the unit; if this appropriation is granted, and the Cape Girardeau City Council continues aid of $840 annually, the service will be maintained another year.

The first shot of the new system for quarrying rock at the Hely Stone Co. plant in South Cape Girardeau was fired at 5 p.m. yesterday and was most successful, says Norman Hely; a new drill drove a hole 5 1/2 inches in diameter and 37 feet deep; it contained about 8 feet of dynamite at the bottom; the resulting blast removed approximately 5,000 yards of stone, or about 10 times as much as was shot out when a much smaller drill was used; some feared the new system would jar the entire city, but yesterday's blast was wasn't that noticeable.

-- Sharon K. Sanders