Out of the past: Jan. 24

1999

The Jackson Ministerial Alliance sponsors a worship service in the afternoon at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity; the Rev. Grant Gillard, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, is the speaker; an ecumenical handbell choir performs.

Affordable, accessible public transportation for anyone who needs it; smooth traffic flow, adequate parking and well-maintained streets; easier accessibility in-and-out of Cape Girardeau and the pursuit of a MSA (metropolitan statistical area) regional designation were among topics discussed during a Vision 2020 meeting, held at Saint Francis Medical Center yesterday; the weekend session was the first meeting of the new group, which is an outgrowth of Vision 2000, a community improvement group established in 1987 to create a long-term community development plan for the city.

1974

A 35-member Citizens Jail Committee is circulating petitions throughout Cape Girardeau County asserting that the proposed move of the county jail from Jackson to the County Farm in Cape Girardeau is “wrong, illegal, arbitrary, capricious and nonsensical”; the petitions charge that the action of County Court Presiding Judge Clarence W. Suedekum, Associate Judge J. Ronald Fischer, Prosecuting Attorney A.J. Seier, Sheriff Ivan E. McLain and others who are not named in favoring the proposed $750,000 complex at Cape Girardeau will “...result in expenditure of money of unconscionable proportions, three-quarters of a million dollars, on an undeveloped site that has no utilities of any type.”

The Rev. Earl W. Tharp confirms reports that he will retain his Cape Girardeau Board of Education seat after he moves from the city, if state statutes permit him to do so; Tharp resigned his pastorate at Red Star Baptist Church effective Feb. 1 to move to De Soto, where he will become pastor of First Baptist Church.

1949

Following a heavy rainfall that ran creeks out of their banks and made rivers of city streets, much colder weather is expected to strike Cape Girardeau tonight, putting an end to the balmy, spring-like temperatures; the forecast calls for the mercury to drop as low as 5 or 10 degrees in this section tomorrow.

Continued heavy rainfall brings high water threats to a number of towns in Southeast Missouri, closes two major highways and threatens rural mail delivery service; Highway 60 in Charleston is closed at noon with 3 feet of water over the route at the west end of town; water fills the basement of St. Henry’s Catholic School in Charleston, forcing classes to be suspended; classes at Lutesville are dismissed at noon, so pupils can be taken home in school buses while it is still possible to cross the low stretch of Highway 34.

1924

Street Commissioner Louis Brinkopf is ordered to immediately proceed with the repairing of the streets to the West End residence section, torn up by the recent sewer installation; the City Council specifically orders repair of the intersections of William and Painter, William and West End Boulevard, and William and Henderson.

The ice gorge which blocks the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau is still intact, although weakened by the warm weather of the last two days; the river, however, has gone down nearly two feet under its roof of ice.

— Sharon K. Sanders