1998

The Cape Girardeau County Commission yesterday decided to wait before granting any tax abatements for the old Saint Francis Hospital in Cape Girardeau; commissioners said they would reconsider if and when the proposal becomes a viable project; Springfield, Missouri, developer Trent Condellone asked the commission to forgive back taxes and fines on the property; Condellone runs a newly formed Springfield corporation, 801 Good Hope Inc., which announced it has bought old Saint Francis Hospital.

Saint Francis Medical Center has moved the entrance for its emergency and Convenient Care departments; the new entrance is on the north side of the new Healing Arts Center, which is adjacent to the main hospital building; the relocation is part of a hospital-wide renovation project.

1973

Wavewash caused by winds gusting up to 60 miles per hour is posing a new threat to battered and soaked levees in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois; the Mississippi and Ohio rivers continue to fall, but the wind-whipped waves -- some as high as five feet -- are hammering away at dikes on Kaskaskia Island, in the Miller City-Olive Branch, Illinois, area and along the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway; Army Corps of Engineers fears the Kaskaskia Island levee may give way.

With boards of directors of both financial institutions having voted approval, plans are being finalized for the merger of Southeast Savings & Loan Association of Cape Girardeau and Farm & Home Savings Association, whose headquarters are in Nevada, Missouri.

1948

Bringing to a close the first group of spring high school activities at State College, approximately 250 agriculture contestants complete their two-day series of contests in the morning; more than 1,000 students of district high schools competed Thursday for music honors; following these activities will be the scholastic and athletic contests April 24, also at State College.

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Arthur F. Deneke of Cape Girardeau and Grover W. Dalton of Poplar Bluff are chosen as delegates to the Republican national convention at the 10th District convention here in the evening; alternates selected are G.L. Pemberton of Charleston, Missouri, and Mart Wood of Campbell, Missouri.

1923

Reports that the Ku Klux Klan would march through the streets of Illmo Sunday night were unfounded, authorities declare, and no demonstration was held; a week ago, four members of the "hooded band" invaded a Methodist Church in Illmo and left $50 to be added to the building fund of the church; and a week before then, "red cards" -- which indicated houses and places of business opposed by the Klan -- were distributed about town; the incidents led to rumors about the Klan parade Sunday and that another secret organization would be formed to unmask the Klan.

Breaking the combination knob from the safe at the Park Theater on Broadway, thieves Sunday night robbed the office of $763, the Saturday and Sunday receipts at the Park and Orpheum theaters; how the yeggs gained entrance to the building, or how they left, hasn't been determined, although the trail followed by bloodhounds indicated they departed through a stage door at the south end of the building and then made their way through Courthouse Park to Spanish Street.

-- Sharon K. Sanders