Out of the past: Feb. 5

1999

James Lee Witt, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, formally welcomes Cape Girardeau into FEMA's Project Impact during a morning ceremony at the Show Me Center; Project Impact, which Witt originated, is a nationwide FEMA initiative to encourage communities to become more disaster resistant; Cape Girardeau is the first city in Missouri to be recognized under the program.

Wooden card catalogs are quickly disappearing in the Information Age; the latest disappearance is occurring at Riverside Regional Library in Jackson, which has installed a new computer system to control circulation in the main facility and at all five branches.

1974

The striking independent truckers at Rhodes City Truck Plaza, south of Cape Girardeau, say they are prepared to fight a court order requiring them to move their rigs; meanwhile, area businesses are beginning to experience shortages as the strike enters its sixth day; warehouse operations at Wetterau Foods, Inc., of Scott City are suspended because of the strike and about 50 employees go home; Wetterau is one of the largest food distributors in the area, supplying IGA stores.

Cape Girardeau Circuit Judge Stanley A. Grimm late yesterday sustained a motion that he be disqualified to rule on the injunction request to prohibit the County Court from building the proposed county law enforcement complex at Cape Girardeau; the move means the Missouri Supreme Court will appoint a judge to rule on the issue.

1949

Some damage was done yesterday afternoon to a bake oven and the building occupied by Cape Girardeau Auto and Body Paint Co., 531 Morgan Oak St., when a pipe leading from an oil furnace to the oven area became overheated; the oven caught fire and flared out to ignite overhead rafters.

The bodies of 19 Southeast Missouri servicemen, including two from Cape Girardeau, are among the 5,205 Americans who lost their lives in the Mediterranean area during World War II and are being transported to the United States aboard the Army Transport Corporal Eric G. Gibson; the two Cape Girardeau men are Army Pvt. Wallace L. Harper and Merchant Mariner William E. Turner.

1924

On a motion by City Commissioner Roy Brissenden, the Cape Girardeau City Council last night decided to take immediate legal steps to secure the opening of Merriwether Street from Fountain to Frederick streets; Brissenden says it will only be a question of a few years when another avenue for traffic to the downtown business section of the city will be needed and that Merriwether, when extended, will provide it.

The American flag flying over the Federal Building in Cape Girardeau is at half-staff following a general order in Washington on Monday that a 30-day mourning period would be officially observed for the late Woodrow Wilson; the former president passed away Sunday, Feb. 3.

-- Sharon K. Sanders