Out of the past: July 5

1998

Members of Faith Evangelical Church hold their first Sunday services in their new building at 5303 Old Cape Road, across from Klaus Park; the church has been in existence since 1986, but for 12 years it has been meeting at Trinity Lutheran School; the pastor, the Rev. Fred Burgard, says for a long time the church wasn't big enough to make the move to a building of its own.

Sister Mary Jo Ressell of the Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand, Indiana, recently professed her first vow at Monastery Immaculate Conception; Ressell, formerly of Cape Girardeau, was senior secretary at the Campus Assistance Center at Southeast Missouri State University.

1973

Residents of the Brink Addition brought two problems to the Cape Girardeau City Council last night, asking solutions to speeding and flooding in the area; spokesmen said motorists frequently exceed the speed limit on Brink and Montgomery and remind the council that a child was killed in a traffic accident in the 2000 block of Brink last week; those living in the 1700 block of Montgomery complain that a natural drainage course has been blocked south of the street, causing water to back up into basements after each heavy rain.

All five shows in the University Theater's 1973-74 season, planned as a part of Southeast Missouri State University's centennial observance, will be open to community participation; productions will be "The Apple Tree," "Twelfth Night," "Amahl and the Night Visitors," "1776" and "Dark of the Moon."

1948

A milling throng of humanity, disregarding muddy grounds and a traffic snarl of unprecedented proportions, converges on Arena Park for what many veteran observers say is the largest attendance in the 28-year history of the American Legion's Independence Day celebration; although estimates on the number of people at the park run from 15,000 to 20,000, it appears many thousands of others never get within a mile of the picnic; traffic is packed in solid lines for a distance of from 5 to 6 miles up and down Highway 61; a good part of this distance, the shoulders of the highway serve as parking lots.

American Legion commander Rush H. Limbaugh Jr. announces that the weekly midget auto races, which have been held Monday nights, will be changed to Sunday nights, starting next Sunday; he explains that Springfield, Illinois, holds its races Monday nights, and some of the drivers who would come here are going to Springfield instead, since a larger purse is offered.

1923

Three boys were fined $14 each in police court Tuesday and a fourth was ordered to return to his home in St. Louis, after pleading guilty to shooting fireworks in violation of city law; the boys were Albert Snider, 16, of St. Louis; Virgil Miller, Bloomfield Street; Ed Lottes, Dunklin Street, and Raymond McLain, South Painter; the boys were driving in an automobile along North Main Street near where a Pentecostal revival was being held and tossed firecrackers from the car, an action witnessed by police officers.

Professor John N. Crocker, superintendent of Cape Girardeau's public schools, leaves for New York to continue his special studies at Columbia University; before going, he tells The Missourian he is preparing for the busiest school year he has ever experienced here; the next term will be his 11th in Cape Girardeau, and in the past 10 years the enrollment, the teaching force and the equipment have more than doubled.

-- Sharon K. Sanders