History in the News
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Out of the past: March 18 (3/18/24)More than 20 years after the death of Leroy Mason, longtime director of Southeast Missouri State University's Golden Eagles Marching Band, a university scholarship named for Mason isn't fully endowed; Vicki Litzelfelner Abernathy, who was a majorette and drum major for the Golden Eagles from 1966 to 1971, has organized a benefit '60s dance aimed at raising some of the approximately $3,600 still needed to fully endow the scholarship at $10,000; the dance is set for April 16 at the Show Me Center...
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Out of the past: March 16 (3/16/24)Southeast Missouri State University wants to hike tuition and general fees, and add a student health fee; combined, the fees would total $107.50 a credit-hour for in-state undergraduates, a $4 hike from the current rate; the university also wants to increase fees for out-of-state undergraduate and in-state graduate students by $7 a credit-hour; the Board of Regents will consider approving the fees at its March 24 meeting...
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Out of the past: March 17 (3/16/24)Southeast Missouri State University expects to spend about $71 million to educate students next fiscal year; university officials are crafting a budget that calls for spending some $3 million more for general operations than was budgeted for the current fiscal year that ends June 30; the increase is based on getting added state funding of more than $2 million plus about $755,000 in added revenue from hikes in student fees; none of this is set in stone; the Missouri Legislature has yet to approve an estimated $46.4 million in state funding for Southeast for fiscal 2000, and the Board of Regents still has to vote on the administration's plan to raise student fees.. ...
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Deane: Cape's premier architect of the 19th century (3/16/24)Beverly HahsEdwin Branch Deane was born in Virginia to Philip and Mary Holman Deane. As a child, Edwin moved with his family to Nicholsville, Kentucky. In 1830 as a 17-year-old, he crossed the Mississippi to Cape Girardeau and clerked at the general store of Amazi D. ...
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Old Town Cape to hold 25th annual celebration dinner (3/15/24)By Alyssa Lunsford ~ Southeast MissourianOld Town Cape will hold its annual dinner to celebrate downtown Thursday, March 21, when major accomplishments and outstanding contributions from the past year will be recognized. This is the 25th year of the dinner, which will be at Century Casino Cape Girardeau Event Center and will have a special theme for the anniversary of "This Place Matters"...
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Out of the past: March 15 (3/15/24)With just a week of winter left on the calendar, Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois got hit by a storm that left more than a foot of snow in some areas; snow began falling early yesterday morning and ended shortly after noon; Cape Girardeau County was hard hit, receiving 14 inches of snow in some spots; Jackson reports drifts reaching 20 to 30 inches, while Cape Girardeau had 6 to 8 inches by noon Sunday. ...
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New Broadway Theatre sign unveiled (3/14/24)By Christopher Borro ~ Southeast MissourianIn front of scores of onlookers, a group of preservationists, construction workers and city leaders unveiled the new sign for the redeveloped Broadway Theatre building Wednesday, March 13, in downtown Cape Girardeau. "This marquee sign pays homage to the rich history that is embedded in these walls, but it also symbolizes the profound impact that preserving our heritage has on our community," developer Brennon Todt said during the unveiling ceremony in the 800 block of Broadway. ...
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Katy O'Ferrell's celebrates 10th anniversary on St. Patrick's Day (3/14/24)By Christopher Borro ~ Southeast MissourianFlorence Kathryn Ferrell died in 2005, but her legacy lives on in Katy O’Ferrell’s Irish Pub and Restaurant at 300 Broadway in downtown Cape Girardeau. The restaurant is celebrating a decade of business with a North Lorimier Street block party Saturday, March 16, and Sunday, March 17, just in time for St. Patrick’s Day. ...
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Out of the past: March 14 (3/14/24)The Perpetual Help Mission Club marked its 50th anniversary recently with a Mass celebrated by the Rev. Al Hoernig; the only charter member left in the club is Vera Lohmann, a parishioner at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church; the group began in 1949, when the Rev. Paul Tong began seeking help for mission work in Brazil; women from St. Vincent's and St. Mary's Cathedral started the club; over the years, the club has kept supporting the work of the Brazilian church...
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Out of the past: March 13 (3/13/24)Even though the new millennium doesn’t start until 2001, plans are being made to celebrate it on Dec. 31 with a massive New Year’s Eve party at the Show Me Center; making plans for the celebration are Cape Girardeau businesswoman Judy Wilferth and friends; the party, expected to cost more than $100,000, will feature dinner, dancing, musical entertainment from two bands — the Jerry Ford Orchestra, a local swing band, and Atlantic Express, a rock dance band from Kansas City — champaign, party favors, a millennium breakfast and indoor fireworks. ...
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Out of the past: March 12 (3/12/24)The committee redrawing Cape Girardeau’s elementary school boundaries changed the line dividing Franklin and Jefferson schools, but made no other changes; the group decided yesterday it shouldn’t negotiate with parent groups; instead, the committee recommended that parents take their suggestions to the school board; the change between Franklin and Jefferson schools was needed because children in the neighborhood between William and Independence streets were inaccurately counted. ...
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Sikeston's Rodeo Museum and Visitors Center work officially underway (3/11/24)By Gina Williams ~ Standard DemocratSIKESTON — Work on the renovation of Sikeston's new Rodeo Museum and Visitors Center is officially underway in downtown Sikeston. Kathy Medley, executive vice president of the Sikeston Regional Chamber and Area Economic Development Corp., said the museum still needs a lot of work before it can open...
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Out of the past: March 11 (3/11/24)Six Southeast Missouri Democratic lawmakers were among Democrats who defied the governor and their own party's leadership to help defeat the state's collective bargaining bill; the House defeated the controversial bill Tuesday by a vote of 73 for and 88 against...
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Part 2: Cape Girardeau and prelude to Civil War (3/9/24)Union General Lyon responded to Governor Jackson's pro-secession actions by marching on Jefferson City and driving out the governor and pro-secession members of the State Convention on June 15. The Convention convened a second session, declared state offices vacant, and appointed provisional pro-Union officers. They called for a general election in November...
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Captured on Film (3/9/24)G.D. Fronabarger ~ Southeast Missourian archive
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Out of the past: March 9 (3/9/24)The likelihood of losing your wheels to a car thief is decreasing, especially if you live in Cape Girardeau; the Missouri State Highway Patrol reports that 23,163 vehicles were stolen statewide in 1998, a decrease of 4%; Cape Girardeau police say local auto theft is down from 102 in 1997 to 46 in 1998, a decrease of 55%...
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Out of the past: March 10 (3/9/24)"Heroes and Legends: An Aerial Tribute to U.S. Veterans" is the theme for this year's three-day Cape Girardeau Regional Air Festival; groups like the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts across Southeast Missouri have expressed interest in helping promote the show, scheduled for July 10-12 at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport...
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Out of the past: March 8 (3/8/24)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...
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Steve Lawrence, singer, entertainer and half of popular stage duo Steve & Eydie, dies at 88 (3/8/24)By MARK KENNEDY ~ Associated PressNEW YORK -- Steve Lawrence, a singer and top stage act who as a solo performer and in tandem with his wife Eydie Gorme kept Tin Pan Alley alive during the rock era, died Thursday. He was 88. Lawrence, whose hits included "Go Away Little Girl," died from complications due to Alzheimer's disease, said Susan DuBow, a spokesperson for the family...
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Out of the past: March 7 (3/7/24)The Cape Girardeau school board will consider whether to continue a second class preparation period for secondary teachers, during a meeting March 15; board members requested the item be added to the next meeting’s agenda during a half-day study session yesterday; a decision must be made about the preparation periods before mid-April, because it could impact the number of secondary teachers rehired for next school year. ...
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Out of the past: March 6 (3/6/24)Cape Girardeau Board of Education's annual retreat is held at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce board room and is open to the public; members of the board discuss long-term budget projections and class scheduling; not scheduled for discussion is a proposal submitted by the Attendance Area Study Committee last month, which deals with boundary changes for the district's elementary schools...
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Did you know? 10 things about Ivers Square Civil War statue, fountain (3/5/24)By Bob Miller ~ Southeast MissourianWorkers on Monday, March 4, disassembled the Civil War fountain in Ivers Square in downtown Cape Girardeau near City Hall, as preparations were made to refurbish the monument. The statue atop the pedestal dates to 2003, but the monument itself was erected in 1911 and honors the war dead from the Civil War. ...
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Out of the past: March 5 (3/5/24)Missouri Secretary of State Bekki Cook won’t seek re-election or run for any other public office next year; the 48-year-old Democrat from Cape Girardeau says she will leave public office when her term ends in January 2001; however, she also indicates she won’t rule out running for governor some day; less than an hour after Cook made here announcement yesterday, House Speaker Steve Gaw said he would run for the office Cook is vacating. ...
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Out of the past: March 4 (3/4/24)Southeast Missouri can claim its share of the 5,000 inductees in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame: Billy Swan of "I Can Help" fame, Narvel "Reconsider Me" Felts and Dennis "Lover Please" Turner; the newest inductee is Louis "Lou" Hobbs, the 57-year-old Cape Girardeau singer-guitarist who has been a fixture on the local music scene for a long time...
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Captured on Film (3/2/24)G.D. Fronabarger ~ Southeast Missourian archive
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Out of the past: March 3 (3/2/24)Aircraft manufacturer Zenair of Canada Ltd. and Independent Manufacturing and Development Co. might start assembling planes in Cape Girardeau within 60 days; Independent Manufacturing president Mathieu Heintz was in Cape Girardeau yesterday to announce his company has agreed to produce the FAA-type certified CH2000/CH2T aircraft at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport...
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Remembering Martha Middlebrook (3/2/24)Denise LincolnIt was crushing news for a widowed mother. An officer from the local Naval Reserve Center came to her Amethyst Street home in Cape Girardeau on Tuesday, April 8, 1975. He relayed heartbreaking news that her only child, 31 year-old Martha, was listed on a manifest for a plane that crashed in Vietnam, but her personal effects had not been found...
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Out of the past: March 2 (3/2/24)Jackson has been rated first among 62 cities seeking approval of projects under the State Revolving Loan Program; acceptance into the program should save the city about $3.1 million in interest over the life of sewer and water bonds authorized by voters in August...
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Out of the past: March 1 (3/1/24)NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Southeast Missouri State University’s bid for its first-ever NCAA Division I basketball tournament berth was thwarted yesterday by Murray State in a 62-61 loss in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament championship game; for the second time this season, Murray State’s Aubrey Reese hit a game-winning shot at the buzzer to beat the Indians; and also for the second time this year, Reese’s shot negated the heroics of Southeast’s Kahn Cotton, who swished a 27-foot 3-pointer with 5 seconds left that gave Southeast a temporary 61-60 lead. ...
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Out of the past: Feb. 29 (2/29/24)Absent from today’s “Out of the Past” column are events from the years 1949, 1974 and 1999. Those were not leap years. Leap Day. At least eight Cape Girardeans are members of the 29’ers Club; today they celebrate a birthday anniversary delayed for four years; they are Joseph Baumgartner, Ernest Sawyer, Mrs. E.P. Vaeth, Mrs. Ollie Crump, Hilda Fisher, Mrs. C.B. Crabtree, Joe Sciortino and Norman J. Schwab. ...
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Out of the past: Feb. 28 (2/28/24)The Rev. Allen Oakley is the guest speaker at First Presbyterian Church in Cape Girardeau; he has served as moderator for the synod of Missouri and as presbytery associate executive in St. Louis; he also served as pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Kennett. ...
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Cape Girardeau Endangered Buildings List open for 2024 nominations (2/27/24)By NATHAN GLADDEN ~ Southeast MissourianCape Girardeau’s Historic Preservation Commission is seeking nominations for its 2024 Endangered Buildings List, with the deadline of Friday, March 8. The list identifies buildings with historic value that are in “a state of deterioration” or about to be demolished. ...
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Out of the past: Feb. 27 (2/27/24)Sister Mary Ann Fischer, who has served 11 years as principal at Notre Dame Regional High School, says the time is right for her to leave the high school she helped bring into its prime; Fischer is leaving here to pursue another career that allows her to use her master’s degree in religious education; but first, she will participate in a summer program with the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Japan, where she will work with the international order and perform some Third World outreach activities. ...
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Out of the past: Feb. 26 (2/26/24)With a $350-million-plus expansion project at the Procter & Gamble Co. plant still being carried out, the company says it is considering yet another expansion. Repair work and inspections of the Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau will continue next week; both lanes will be closed from 9 a.m. ...
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Out of the past: Feb. 25 (2/24/24)Members of the Cape Girardeau Board of Education favor many of the redistricting changes proposed by its Attendance Area Study Committee, but oppose any changes that would separate neighborhoods; the board likely will decide new school boundaries in April after receiving public input...
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Out of the past: Feb. 24 (2/24/24)Residents of Dutchtown may again participate in the federal flood insurance program; the designation marks another step toward protection from Mississippi River flooding for the small village, says Bud Obermann, who serves on the Dutchtown village board; the village was incorporated a year ago by the County Commissioners; organizers hope to develop a levee that would protect the community from river water; it would also help keep highways 25 and 74 open during floods...
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Holy Family Catholic Church (2/24/24)Marybeth NiederkornToo often, Black history is thought of as something to be celebrated only in February, with Martin Luther King Jr.'s rousing speech rightly at the forefront. The Civil Rights movement and slavery are far from the entire story, though. February is Black History Month, and that means celebrating all of Black history and how it is part of the fabric of all of our shared history, so I thought I would highlight a particular volume in the Cape Girardeau County Genealogical Society's library at the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center.. ...
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Out of the past: Feb. 23 (2/23/24)The Missouri Department of Transportation says the Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau will be closed to traffic from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. tomorrow to allow workers to make repairs to a floor beam; traffic on the span was reduced to one lane much of yesterday and again today; repairing a floor beam on the center line makes the closure necessary. ...
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Out of the past: Feb. 22 (2/22/24)A proposal is received by the Cape Girardeau Board of Education that would shift elementary school boundaries to improve diversity and maximize use of building capacities after the district’s newest school is completed this summer; the proposal doesn’t eliminate the neighborhood school concept favored by many in Cape Girardeau, nor does it negatively impact the majority of students in the district, say members of the Attendance Area Study Committee. ...
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Out of the past: Feb. 21 (2/21/24)Southeast Missouri State University’s power plant has generated plenty of electricity; university officials say the $7 million spent over the past few years on improvements to the campus power plant and electrical distribution system has been well worth it; since Jan. 13, the university has generated much of its electrical power, reducing the amount of electricity it must buy from AmerenUE; Southeast expects savings of about $300,000 annually. ...
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Out of the past: Feb. 20 (2/20/24)Former Southeast Missouri State University basketball coach Ron Shumate has filed a lawsuit seeking nearly $300,000 in damages from the university’s Board of Regents, stemming from his 1997 firing; the suit claims Shumate was wrongfully fired and that the defendants — the regents and the school’s executive vice president of financial affairs, Kenneth Dobbins — concocted false charges of NCAA regulations violations and encouraged others to make false statements before the NCAA. ...
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Out of the past: Feb. 19 (2/19/24)Contractors on the new Cape Girardeau elementary school won't meet their June 30 deadline, says school superintendent Dr. Dan Tallent; he updated parents on construction progress within the district during a Parent Teacher Association meeting at Alma Schrader Elementary School last night; parents also met candidates for the upcoming school board elections during the meeting...
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Out of the past: Feb. 17 (2/17/24)The City of Jackson formally committed last night to an intergovernmental agreement that would accelerate improvements at the Highway 61-Interstate 55 interchange called Center Junction; the improvements would be financed and carried out by a not-for-profit corporation composed of the cities of Jackson and Cape Girardeau, Cape Girardeau County and developer Jim Drury; Cape Girardeau also approved the agreement last night, and the County Commission is scheduled to consider it soon, leaving the next move to the Missouri Department of Transportation.. ...
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Out of the past: Feb. 18 (2/17/24)A group of Cape Girardeau doctors and nurses is planning a week-long trip to Jamaica in April, but the visit will be no vacation; the group is participating in a medical mission trip to provide primary health care to rural communities in the township of Carron Hall; the group has been working since August to plan the trip...
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A legacy of service (2/17/24)David DickeyThe Cape Girardeau County Historical Society has come into possession of some military memorabilia thanks to a man who was an avid collector of all things military. Robert "Red" Clifton (1930-2020) was a person who dedicated his life to the service of others...
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Genetic genealogy: Basics and background (2/17/24)Bill EddlemanDNA is the chemical that codes for proteins which determine our physical traits. This molecule is a double coil connected by cross pieces (called bases). There are four bases that can vary in sequence in a DNA molecule, and these are a code for our traits (similar to an alphabet making up words, sentences and paragraphs). DNA occurs mainly in the nucleus of most of our cells. A small amount resides in structures involved in energy release in our cells -- the mitochondria...
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Out of the past: Feb. 16 (2/16/24)A committee is meeting to determine whether attendance boundaries adopted two years ago for Cape Girardeau elementary schools are still practical; the 12-member Attendance Area Study Committee convened in November 1996 to develop a plan to redraw boundary lines for the district’s six elementary schools; at the same time, the school board approved a master plan for the district; it reduces the number of elementary schools to five by closing Washington and May Greene schools and opening a new elementary school on North Sprigg Street by June 30. ...
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Out of the past: Feb. 15 (2/15/24)Pat Patterson Photography Studio has moved to a new location, 2700 Bloomfield Road; the studio, owned by Pat and Edna Patterson, opened on Broadway in 1982 and has operated at 124 N. Main St., for the past 12 years. The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce has released an updated report card on the quality of life in the community; the report, Qualities of Life, shows community progress as well as problems that need attention, says John Mehner, Chamber president...
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Out of the past: Feb. 14 (2/14/24)The Rev. Jim Lyons is the new pastor of Zion United Methodist Church in Gordonville; his wife, Louella, is pastor at Sedgewickville and Crossroads United Methodist churches; the Lyons were co-pastors of Methodist churches in Willow Springs, while attending seminary. ...
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Out of the past: Feb. 13 (2/13/24)With all David Limbaugh's personas — lawyer, editor of his famous brother's books, Sunday school teacher — he has long aspired to be a writer; the Cape Girardeau resident is about to begin writing a nationally syndicated column for Los Angeles-based Creators Syndicate; the column will launch April 4, and the Southeast Missourian will carry it...