Out of the past: March 8

1999

Following a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday, the Good Hope Neighborhood Police Station is open for business at 629 Good Hope St.; Cape Girardeau police are hoping the opening of the substation in the Haarig area will take a bigger bite out of neighborhood crime; the newly-remodeled facility is in Dr. George Ringland's former office.

Elections in Jackson are usually low-key affairs; but nobody told that to Chris Bowen, a candidate for Ward 3 alderman who has been on the attack against City Hall and, indirectly, his opponent in the April election, Alderman Valerie Tuschhoff; Bowen has questioned why the city spent nearly $1 million on a 60-acre industrial tract on Highway 61 North, when "the city currently owns a 50-acre site south of Jackson designated for industrial development. This land is sitting idle."

1974

Southeast Missouri State University campus was the scene of another night of streaking last night -- The Greek Streak; according to some sources, Greek sororities had challenged the fraternities to what was supposed to be the biggest streaking event yet on the campus; approximately 80 students ran and rode in the nude; all but three were males, and one of them was a student at Cape Girardeau Central High School; before a crowd of townspeople and students estimated at 3,000 -- the largest audience yet -- the streakers ran as individuals or in groups, the largest being a 67-man streak several times around the Towers circle drive.

Lake Boutin in Trail of Tears State Park will not reopen to public swimming this summer as had been announced; a study will be made to possibly install a swimming pool at a future date, says James L. Wilson, Park Board director; Wilson directs the Clean Water Commission to test the water quality in Lake Boutin after sample results taken by The Southeast Missourian indicated high bacteria levels and the possibility of a health hazard to swimmers.

1949

First county-sponsored road projects under terms of the King milk route law have been approved by the County Court and certified to the State Highway Department for approval; under the law, the state participates up to $750 per mile in the building of approved routes used for school bus, mail and milk routes; one project calls for the improvement of a 5.45-mile stretch of the Oriole Road from where it intersects with Perryville Road north of Cape Girardeau to where it crosses the Greensferry Road; the work will include the grading and graveling of the stretch, building a bridge over Cape LaCroix Creek and repair of culverts.

Fire originates around the flue entrance to the kitchen ceiling of the John Boss residence, 217 N. Lorimier St., at 9 a.m., and billows of smoke pour through the siding and from under the eaves of the home, but the damage is confined to the kitchen; the fire itself is slight, but firefighters are forced to tear away a large part of the kitchen ceiling to reach the blaze in the attic.

1924

Refusing overtures of peace and harmony, Cape Girardeau Township Democrats, in convention yesterday at Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau, adopted resolutions denouncing Missouri Sen. James A. Reed and elected 40 delegates to the county convention, instructed against Reed; in a spirited argument, in which Reed was denounced as a "skulking, hypocritical coward," an amendment to the resolution which would have made the denunciation of the senator less severe, lost by a heavy majority; Cape Girardeau attorney R.B. Oliver, a Reed opponent for years, led the fight against Reed's nomination for the presidency.

H.B. Newman, local manager of the Union Electric and Power Co., announces electric service in Cape Girardeau will be suspended between 7 and 8 a.m. Sunday; during the suspension, important changes will be made on the switchboard at the local power plant, Newman says.

Southeast Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders compiles the information for the daily Out of the Past column. She also writes a blog called "From the Morgue" that showcases interesting historical stories from the newspaper. Check out her blog at www.semissourian.com/history.