Out of the past: July 20

1998

The equipment is in place, and construction crews are waiting on the river to re-start work on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge; several problems, from soft bedrock to high waters, have caused delays; the area where workers need to be is under water; the river stages have been falling since it hit 34.4 feet July 9, and by Friday it had dropped to 31.3 feet; the bridge construction project has been shut down since December, when it was discovered portions of the bedrock contained fissures or seams of mud rather than solid rock.

A man wearing a ski mask and armed with a black, semiautomatic handgun robs the NationsBank branch at 800 N. Kingshighway shortly before noon, escaping with an undetermined amount of cash; the robber is last seen fleeing south on Kingshighway in a maroon, four-door Buick; police recover a suspected getaway car about 1 1/2 hours later on the Kmart parking lot at 11 S. Kingshighway; the car had been stolen from the nearby Schnucks parking lot earlier in the morning.

1973

General grounds improvements plans have been approved by the board of directors of the Cape Girardeau Civic Center Inc., 201 N. Spanish St.; in addition to an outdoor basketball and other play facilities, the plans call for conservation procedures and the development of a nature study plot on the northwest portion of the lot, which abuts on the high bluff leading to Fort A.

The Glenn Reeves family, 1713 Lakeshore Drive, moved here in June from Vicksburg, Mississippi, and were still getting settled in their new home; cardboard packing boxes and paper were in the garage, waiting to be disposed of; at about 5:45 yesterday afternoon, those boxes caught fire, and the Reeves home was heavily damaged by a raging fire that sent clouds of smoke over the Lakeview Estates Subdivision; Mr. and Mrs. Reeves and their two children were unharmed; the fire's origin hasn't yet been determined.

1948

For the first time in the history of the Southeast Missouri Area Council of Boy Scouts, horsemanship is part of the summer camping program at Camp Lewallen on the St. Francis River; the council owns a herd of horses it quarters in the camp's corral; camp ranger Henry Hefner directs the horsemanship program, teaching youngsters how to ride safely.

The Cape Girardeau City Council is considering a ban on future lot sales in Fairmount Cemetery, shifting all future gravesites to adjoining Lorimier Cemetery; Commissioner Cleo Johns discloses that the situation with regard to lots in Fairmount is "in a mess"; elaborating, he says there is no assurance when a lot is purchased there that it isn't being sold for the second -- or perhaps third -- time; consequently, it is a frequent occurrence for local undertakers, when ordering a grave opened, to find that another body is already buried in the plot; few records are available to tell who owns the lots.

1923

Attorneys for the Dunnegan Construction Co., which has a contract with the City of Cape Girardeau to install the West End sewer, say the company cannot be forced to bear the expense of replacing water and gas pipes, which were cut during the sewer work; they say that all the money realized from the issuance of special sewer tax bills must be used solely for constructing the sewer; further, the lawyers say the utilities company, because of a 1913 franchise with the city, is responsible for replacing all services interrupted by the sewer work; as expected, the utilities company attorneys object to that conclusion.

Something of a tomato contest is raging in Cape Girardeau at the moment; Alvena Beaudean brings a tomato measuring 16 inches in circumference and weighing about 2 pounds to the Missourian office; it was grown in the garden of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Beaudean, who live near Fort D; that outdoes a specimen picked by W.R. Whittaker of North Sprigg Street; that tomato measured 14 inches in circumference.

-- Sharon K. Sanders