1998

JEFFERSON CITY -- A 15-year state highway plan, hailed in 1992 as Missouri's "economic development program of the decade", is formally dumped as officials call its funding flawed, its timetable unachievable and its sweeping promises impossible to keep; the action isn't a surprise; for four years state officials have warned the plan's math doesn't work, even as the Missouri Department of Transportation edged away from funding the promised projects.

The Teen Challenge Thrift Store is back in business; a grand re-opening attracts a large turnout of city, state and chamber officials, and Teen Challenge of America representatives; the store re-opens at 17 N. Middle St.; the previous store, 10 N. Sprigg St., and its contents were destroyed by a fire in mid-July.

1973

On July 27, 1953, an armistice was signed that officially ended the Korean War, a war that took the lives of 18 Cape Girardeans, including Pfc. Richard Wilson, the city's only Medal of Honor winner; now that 23 years have passed, some are wondering why the Korean War dead, as well as those from the Vietnam War, haven't been honored at Freedom Corner in Capaha Park.

As the energy crisis apparently becomes more serious, area businesses and factories are beginning to follow some of the suggestions for conserving energy outlined by President Nixon this week; nearly all have gone along with his appeal to lower thermostats, and several businesses that own fleets of trucks and cars have ordered their drivers to observe a 50 mph speed limit.

1948

Clear, cool weather follows rain that fell all day yesterday in the Cape Girardeau area; for a time early in the night, some flakes of snow were visible, but no trace remains, although a frost is noticeable.

Victor Haas, 412 S. Hanover St., sustains a fracture of the skull in the afternoon when a piece of concrete that is being lowered from the top of the Dr. A.G. Juden building, Spanish and Independence streets, bounces off a chute, striking him; Haas is working a few feet below the chute at the time; he is rendered unconscious from the blow, but awakens after being transported to Saint Francis Hospital; Haas is associated with his father, Anton Haas, in Haas Construction; the Juden building is being remodeled.

1923

Cape Girardeau's West End storm and sanitary sewer system, constructed at an estimated cost of $360,000, is placed in operation and is being used by probably 100 residents in spite of the fact that official permission to make connections has not yet been given; the system will serve 1,544 different pieces of West End property from the northernmost point -- Normal Avenue -- to the outlet in the Mississippi River, covering 14 miles of pipe; Dunnigan Construction Co., the contractor, is closing up its affairs here, making final repairs to property damaged and packing up its belongings, making ready to depart next week.

Cape Girardeau shippers over the Cape Girardeau Northern Railroad are awaiting the showdown that is to come Monday, when the road's only switch engine in use between here and Jackson is withdrawn from service on a federal order; while the Missouri Public Service Commission has denied the road's request to abandon its steam service, a federal law prohibits the use of the engine for safety reasons.

-- Sharon K. Sanders