Out of the past: March 5

1998

Talks aimed at affiliating Cape Girardeau's two hospitals are on schedule, the administrators say, with consensus already reached on some of the thorniest issues; one of those, agreement on an ethical and religious directive, has been resolved to the satisfaction of Bishop John Leibrecht of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church; under the agreement, Southeast Hospital no longer would perform sterilization procedures or therapeutic abortions for women.

The Cape Girardeau School District will be able to begin work at the site of a planned vocational-technical school and high-school campus in about 30 days, thanks to findings of a new land survey; the district had planned to begin construction at the vocational-technical school site this year, but those plans appeared to be in jeopardy after the Army Corps of Engineers and Missouri Department of Natural Resources declared part of the area a natural wetland last month.

1973

The bishop of the Springfield Cape Girardeau Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, the Most Rev. William W. Baum, is named archbishop of Washington, D.C., by Pope Paul VI; Baum, 46, succeeds Cardinal Patrick O'Boyle, 77, who resigned because of age; the new archbishop was named bishop of the diocese of southern Missouri in 1970, succeeding the Most Rev. Ignatius J. Strecker, who had been elevated to archbishop of Kansas City, Kansas.

Sealed bids on 12 unclaimed vehicles that were impounded on Travelers Conoco Service Station lot prior to the city entering a towing contact agreement last September will be accepted by City Manager W.G. Lawley March 13; it is the first time the city has ever sold unclaimed vehicles, as provided by city ordinances; money from the sales will be used to defray costs of removal of vehicles from city streets and storage costs of the vehicles, some of which, have accrued costs of about $200.

1948

The contest for mayor of Cape Girardeau in the approaching primary election takes on a triangular aspect with the securing of petitions in behalf of Mayor R.E. Beckman and John L. Wieser; they joined one other candidate -- Walter H. Ford -- for whom friends are now circulating a petition; it will be Wieser's first venture into politics; he has been a resident of Cape Girardeau 12 years, having the Remington Rand agency on Broadway; Beckman, seeking re-election, was first elected to the City Council as a commissioner in 1940.

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Allen B. Cooper of Charleston has been appointed to a new six-man Missouri Training School Board by Gov. Phil M. Donnelly; Cooper is a former pastor of the local Baptist church and is active in community affairs; it is hoped the new board will help the situation at the boys training school at Boonville, where the 300-plus inmates have been under armed guard of the State Highway Patrol since Jan. 31, when the governor ousted Supt. John C. Tindall.

1923

J.N. Cornatzer, passenger agent for the Frisco Railroad, wrote in a letter to A.R. Zoelsmann, chairman of the transportation committee of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, that the two Moose trains will be placed back in service between Cape Girardeau and Poplar Bluff, Missouri, and Cape Girardeau and Hayti, Missouri, within a short time; it is believed the service, with two new locomotives, will resume about April 1.

S. Sigoloff and Alexander Finn, business men of St. Louis, spent Sunday with the Louis Hecht family, Sigolof being Mrs. Hecht's father; Finn is one of the owners of the Reliable House Furnishing Co., which has two big stores in St. Louis and several stores in Illinois; his company is considering Cape Girardeau for a store and, while the contract hasn't been signed, it is said construction of a four-story building on Main Street will be started soon, to be ready for occupancy by Aug. 1.

-- Sharon K. Sanders