Out of the past: July 17

1998

Cape Girardeau School District students and teachers will see and feel a difference when classes begin next month; a $14 million bond issue and 69-cent tax increase approved by voters in April 1997 set in motion a two-phase master plan for construction of two school buildings and renovations to seven others; the first phase of the plan includes major renovations for nearly every building in the district.

A fire that destroyed the Teen Challenge Thrift Store, 10 N. Sprigg St., Wednesday evening may have been accidental, Cape Girardeau Fire Chief Dan White says; it was fueled by the used clothing and furniture, and the building didn't have a sprinkler system; sprinklers could easily have brought the fire under control, says White; authorities are continuing to search for the cause of the blaze as well as the cause of a fire at an apartment building at 216 William St.; that fire was one of four that broke out Wednesday between 8:20 p.m. and 9 p.m.

1973

A major annexation proposal that would extend the present city limits of Jackson on all four sides, but eliminate inclusion of an area southward that was highly protested in a former proposal, has been approved unanimously by the Jackson City Council; the council last night instructed City Attorney Kenneth Waldron to file petitions for declaration of judgment in the Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court; the annexation proposal could come to a vote by early fall.

Work is expected to begin later this month on repair of the deteriorated portion of Independence Street utilized by the Missouri Pacific Railroad; Mo-Pac has agreed to renovate and resurface the roadway from six inches on either side of the ends of the ties and down to the top of the ties.

1948

Although the opening day of the 1948 SEMO District Fair is still nine weeks off, the midway for the enlarged exposition is set up in a general way and display arrangement in the Arena Building is virtually completed, says Major Cuskaden, superintendent of grounds; the fair will be held at Arena Park from Sept. 13 through 19, one day longer than in previous years; Cuskaden reports local businesses and organizations have been clamoring for display space in the Arena Building, and at present 90% of available space has been spoken for except for an area 6 feet deep and 30 feet wide in front of the stage.

Roy McKittrick, who served 12 years as attorney general of Missouri, speaks in the evening at an outdoor meeting at Courthouse Park as part of his campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor; he charges that one of his opponents -- Forrest Smith, state auditor -- is receiving the support of the Capone syndicate, reputedly the head of a gambling syndicate in Kansas City and a union boss in St. Louis.

1923

Harry L. Albert resigns as president of the Liberty National Life Insurance Company at a meeting of the board of directors in the morning; he announces he is going to California to become state manager for Pan-American Life Insurance Company; J.H. Himmelberger, Cape Girardeau capitalist and a heavy stockholder in Liberty National Life, is elected president to succeed Albert.

A court order to restrain property owners south of Cape Girardeau from interfering with the installation of a sanitary sewer and an outlet ditch for the West End soon will be asked for immediately, Allen L. Oliver, attorney for Dunnegan Construction Company, told the City Council yesterday; Oliver asked the council to become a party to the suit, which would be directed against certain property owners whose interference, the attorney said, has delayed work on the sewer.

-- Sharon K. Sanders