Out of the past: Jan. 20

1998

The quest for equality in America is "an unfinished revolution," Dr. Frank Nickell told the assemblage last night at the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration; Debra Mitchell-Braxton, recognized for her tireless work on behalf of African-American youth in the area, received the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award; the event at St. James AME Church was attended by about 75 people.

KFVS-TV meteorologist Charles G. Neese IV is the 1998 Distinguished Service Award recipient; he was honored last night for his civic contributions; guest speaker at the annual Cape Girardeau Jaycees banquet was Secretary of State Bekki Cook.

1973

A spokesman for Kerasotes Theaters of Springfield, Illinois, announces plans for construction of a new twin cinema in the Town Plaza Shopping Center, as well as purchase of the Star-Vue Drive-In Theater on North Kingshighway from Cape Drive-In Theater; the new twin cinema will provide two complete theaters, each with a 300-seat capacity, featuring a common lobby; it will be located on the Plaza's west end; the drive-in, built many years ago, has been closed several weeks during cold weather; it will re-open on a weekend basis, until the arrival of spring permits full-time operation.

Missouri Dry Dock and Repair Co., located just south of the Mississippi River traffic bridge, has under construction a new dry dock to meet the demands of its expanding business; the new dock, built in three sections, the first of which has been launched, will be 180 feet long, 80 feet wide and 8 feet high.

1948

By proclamation signed by Mayor R.E. Beckman and by ordinance adopted by the City Council, both yesterday afternoon, Cape Girardeau voters will go to the polls Feb. 24 to ballot on the adoption of the city manager form of municipal government; the action was a result of petitions circulated during a four-day period and filed with the city clerk Jan. 14.

Damp, sticky snow, forming in the early stages a slush on streets, highways and sidewalks, begins falling shortly after noon, bringing into play tire chains for automobiles and the State Highway Department's road-clearing machinery; the snow appears to be generally over the immediate Cape Girardeau territory, both to the north and to the south.

1923

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Further steps were taken at a meeting here recently to organize a Missouri branch of the Cotton Growers' Cooperative Association, which will sell cotton for Southeast Missouri farmers and get for them all the crop is worth on the market; officers elected were Judge X. Caverno of New Madrid County, president; W.J. Ward, Dunklin County, vice president; William H. Tanner, Scott County, secretary-treasurer.

Paul Kitchen, driver for the Red Stripe Taxi Company, has a narrow escape from serious injury early in the day, when the automobile he is driving drops into a hole in the pavement at the intersection of Fountain and Themis streets; momentarily blinded by the lights of another car, Kitchen doesn't see the hole, which is nearly four feet deep; the hole had been cut in the pavement by Missouri Public Utilities Company employees to replace a worn out valve in a water main; they say they had left a red warning light at the hole.

-- Sharon K. Sanders