Out of the Past

Cape Girardeau's more-than-30-year-old concrete floodwall and earthen levees remain sound, a two-day inspection shows; the entire length of the Mississippi River floodwall was inspected by representatives from the Corps of Engineers, the local levee district and the city...

Cape Girardeau voters overwhelmingly approved a transportation sales tax yesterday that will fund 20 road and bridge projects; voters approved the half-cent, five-year sales tax by a 1,638-vote margin; the victory is sweet for civic leaders who had been frustrated by back-to-back defeats of transportation tax measures in 1986 and 1987...

Jackson Public Library and Riverside Regional Library in Jackson have shared patrons in a town of about 10,000 since the 1950s; yesterday, the Jackson Board of Aldermen, with support from both library boards, voted to change that; library board members want to combine forces and build a $1.5 million building on two acres in Jackson City Park; to do it, voters must approve an 18-cent tax levy on the November ballot...

The Jackson Municipal Band is observing the 75th anniversary of its founding under the name the Jackson Junior Band; the 50-member group will perform a 75th anniversary concert Thursday evening in the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse gazebo under the direction of Nick Leist...

The Rev. Raymond V. Epps is retiring as pastor of Shawnee Hills Baptist Church in Jackson, where he and his wife, Doris, have served since August 1988; a fellowship dinner is held in the evening at the church. The city of Jackson is building a third water tower; the concrete was poured three weeks ago for a 190-foot-high, 300,000-gallon water tank near the junction of Highway 61 and Interstate 55 on Old Appleton Road; it should be in operation by Oct. ...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- A handful of people in Bollinger County would like to revive a proposal to create a recreational lake in Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties; they have started a petition drive asking that voters have a chance to decide the fate of the lake; the lake project died in 1990, when the Bollinger County Commission refused to place the issue before voters; the project left lots of bad feelings in its wake...

A St. Louis firm will manufacture business jets in Ames, Iowa, rather than in Cape Girardeau because local investors there will contribute $2.4 million over the next three months to the project, company officials say; VisionAire Corp. had considered manufacturing its new single-engine, five-passenger business jet on a 40-acre site just north of the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport...

Corrections Corporation of America will send a proposal packet to Cape Girardeau County Sheriff John Jordan tomorrow, taking another step closer to putting jails under private management in Southeast Missouri; Jordan, along with officials from Mississippi and Scott counties, is interested in the private jail system and perhaps building a regional facility housing inmates from the three counties...

PATTON, Mo. -- Fictitious names were added to the student rolls at Meadow Heights School District, likely generating more state money than the district was entitled to; the names of 17 fictitious students appear on the rolls for 1990-91, and 17 others appear on the rolls for 1991-92, a state school official found; those names could have brought in as much as $34,000 extra a year...

The state's buyout coordinator sent Cape Girardeau County an application for the buyout program, but commissioners aren't sure they want to fill it out; only seven people outside Cape Girardeau city expressed interest in the buyout, and six of them live in Dutchtown...

Arby's Roast Beef Restaurant is gone; the restaurant closed its doors recently, and word is that an A&W Root Beer restaurant will move into the quarters at 204 N. Kingshighway; Arby's opened in Cape Girardeau in mid-1988. There's an empty space at 2109 William St.; the structure which previously housed Godfather's Piazza was demolished earlier this month to make way for a new Rhodes 101 Service Center; the Godfather's closing is only temporary, according to a company spokesman...

Michael Sloan has accepted a call as minister of youth/missions and Gary Belcher the call as minister of music/senior adults at Lynwood Baptist Church; they join Mark Anderson, senior pastor, and Christopher Caywood, minister of education/administration, to complete the church staff...

Russ Cochran, on the mend for the better part of three months, hopes the injury-plagued portion of his 1995 professional golf season will soon become a distant memory; the Paducah, Kentucky, native will be at the Cape Girardeau County Club on Monday to conduct a golf clinic for participants of the Cape Girardeau Noon Optimist Celebrity Golf Outing...

City officials say the cost of the Cape LaCroix Creek-Walker Branch Flood Control Project might approach $48 million, $16 million more than the Army Corps of Engineers' estimate when the city passed a half-cent sales tax to fund 25% of the project in 1988...

City officials say the Cape LaCroix Creek-Walker Branch Flood Control Project is more than half finished; the Army Corps of Engineers will open bids today for what city officials call phase II-B of the project; it includes construction of a concrete channel between Broadway and Kingsway, next to Burger King and Choctaw Park...

The Board of Regents plans to appoint an interim president at Southeast Missouri State University until a permanent president is hired; the interim president won't be a candidate for the job and will be named before the current president, Dr. Kala Stroup, steps down at the end of August...

"Overwhelmed by elegance" is how one traveler described life aboard the new American Queen riverboat; for six hours Monday the sternwheeler's 406 passengers toured Cape Girardeau, while a few area residents were allowed to tour the boat. The City of Cape Girardeau will seek federal and state aid to buy flood-prone homes; but the City Council still must decide if it can afford its share of such a program before it makes a final decision; city officials don't know how much the city will have to spend, although estimates place the cost at $160,000 or more.. ...

About 10,000 people attended the three-day Balloons & Arts Festival '95, sponsored by the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri; weather hampered yesterday's competitive balloon flight, with only four balloons flying; about 50 balloons competed in two flights Saturday...

The Rev. Oscar A. Gerken, former pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, is guest speaker at St. Andrew Lutheran Church; he speaks on "The Challenge of China," based on Luke 10:2. The congregation of La Croix United Methodist Church holds its first worship services in its new church at 3102 Lexington Ave.; the new auditorium seats nearly 300, and the facility is designed to accommodate a children's ministry; the church held services at West Park 4 Cine and Sunday School classes in the theater and Pasta House in the mall for almost seven years.. ...

The five finalists for Cape Girardeau city manager have been named: Jeffrey J. Broughton, 41, city manager of Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Lawrence J. Stevens, 42, city manager of Pittsburg, Kansas; T. Michael McDowell, 43, city administrator of Creve Coeur, Missouri; Michael G. Miller, 58, a management consultant living in Ferguson, Missouri; and Jim A. Allan, 50, city manager of North Bend, Oregon...

Around 40 balloon pilots are in Cape Girardeau for the Balloons and Arts Festival '95; rain disappointed flights last night for media members, but hopefully will move out of the area for events spanning today, Saturday and Sunday. Assistant city manager Doug Leslie will end his job-juggling act and return to being the city's full-time public works director, but first he will tackle the job of interim city manager; on Monday, the City Council is expected to appoint him to administer city operations between the departure of city manager J. ...

Eighteen days after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling barred Missouri from funding desegregation salaries, the state sent a $5.4 million check to the Kansas City School District to cover salaries; Gov. Mel Carnahan's spokesman, Chris Sifford, said the governor on June 30 gave the go-ahead for issuance of the check; Sifford explained paperwork from the Supreme Court hadn't arrived from the June 12 decision, and Carnahan thought the money was needed to improve negotiations between the state and school district officials.. ...

The grand opening of Cape Girardeau's Target Discount Store was held yesterday at 202 Siemers Drive; a 10% discount was given to customers upon entering, while the store's deli served food; the 90,000-square-foot store is one of about 700 Target stores nationwide...

On July 2, the Missouri Lottery Commission did away with a policy of no Sunday drawings, evoking smiles from vendors and frowns from ministers; the Sunday drawings are proving popular; Pick 3 sales have increased by about $900,000 a week since the extra drawing was added, and Show Me 5 sales by about $70,000...

It's finally OK to quench your thirst with a cool glass of water; the City of Cape Girardeau lifted a boil water order yesterday morning; water sample analysis tested negative for contaminants; previous residential and commercial water use restrictions were also lifted over the weekend; the prohibitions were the result of the city's water pumps breaking down Friday...

The Rev. Conway Brisco is the newly appointed pastor of Zion United Methodist Church at Gordonville; he will also serve as district youth coordinator. More than 250 antique and collectible automobiles will be auctioned this weekend by Smith's Auction Company at Cape Girardeau's Show Me Center; the auction began yesterday and continues today with a fresh batch of cars; autos Saturday went for as low as $1,000 and as high as $50,000; the same is expected today...

Sizzling hot temperatures are made even worse by the water problems Cape Girardeau is having; yesterday morning, the last of the city's three pumps, all damaged during the Mississippi River flooding, broke and a handful of water customers lost pressure; the breakdown led the city to issue a boil-water order; it also asked residents to conserve the water supply; emergency repairs to the pumps were finished last night, and today, workers are battling the heat to install a second pump...

Property near the 1200 block of North Mount Auburn Road, between Ford and Sons Funeral Home and Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., has been purchased as the site for a new Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce building; the property, eight-tenths of an acre with 150-foot frontage and 235 feet depth, was purchased from Walter J. "Doc" Ford...

PATTON, Mo. -- Tom Waller resigned as superintendent of Meadow Heights School District on Wednesday, after the discovery he may have reported inflated enrollment figures to the state education department; much of a school district's state funding is based on those average daily attendance figures...

No one was injured yesterday afternoon during a two-alarm fire at an apartment building near Broadway and Fountain Street in Cape Girardeau; the fire started in a third-floor apartment in the southeast end of the building and was contained in that area; the three-story building at 115 N. Fountain St., was once part of the Idan-Ha Hotel; two other buildings that were part of the hotel were separately destroyed by fires in 1968 and 1989...

Cape Girardeau Board of Education members question superintendent Neyland Clark about school policies, budgets, personnel and other matters at its evening board meeting; Dr. Bob Fox, board president, sees the questioning as a positive sign that the new members are doing their job overseeing Cape Girardeau's public schools...

Perry C. Hazelwood, an eight-year veteran of law enforcement, has been honored for his actions during a shootout with a Laotian gang member in Jackson last fall; for his actions, Hazelwood is one of seven Missouri Highway Patrol officers to receive meritorious citations for performance beyond the call of duty during 1994; another officer from Troop E in Poplar Bluff, Cpl. Jeffrey L. Heath, received a work recognition award for leading the state in both felony and controlled-substance arrests...

The Rev. John M. Gregory was appointed pastor of Maple Avenue United Methodist Church at the recent Missouri East Annual Conference of United Methodist Churches; a native of St. Louis, Gregory served two years as associate pastor at New McKendree United Methodist Church in Jackson and has been pastor of Benton-Oran United Methodist Churches the past five years...

The guessing game is in full swing at Southeast Missouri State University, where the search for a new university president remains a big question and a hot topic of conversation; two of the school's top administrators -- Dr. Ken Dobbins, executive vice president, and Dr. Charles Kupchella, provost -- have been talked about among campus circles as possible candidates to succeed Dr. Kala Stroup...

WENTZVILLE, Mo. -- Jami Talley, 18, of Cape Girardeau was cold and wet and looking for refuge from the rain during the huge party Wednesday that followed his first Grateful Dead concert; he stood beneath a tent and watched as a wooden deck collapsed, injuring more than 100 fans at a campground west of St. Louis; chaos followed as people tried to remove debris and rescue people...

The 140th edition of the SEMO District Fair will be held Sept. 10-16 in Cape Girardeau's Arena Park, featuring country music singers Holly Dunn, Aaron Tippin and Ricky Van Shelton; while small fairs around the country are struggling to make a go, the SEMO District Fair is expecting attendance to top 100,000 this year, making it the state's fourth largest outdoor event...

Cape Girardeau has had few takers for an adult business license; so far, a Cape Girardeau video store is the only business to apply for an adult license under a new city law; a strip-tease bar, Regina's House of Dolls, didn't apply by the July 1 deadline; a lawyer for the bar is challenging the constitutionality of the city ordinance...

Thousands of people flock to the seventh annual Jackson Jaycees Fourth of July Celebration in the City Park for food, folks and fun; 48 teams compete for about 12 hours to determine the champion seven-man mud volleyball team, the games proving entertaining whether you are a participant in ankle-deep mud or a spectator...

People like variety and maximum bang in their fireworks, say workers at Cape Girardeau-area fireworks stands; the stands have enjoyed brisk sales as the July 4 holiday approaches. Children enjoyed ice cream and lemonade as adults chatted and listened to music playing in the backyard Sunday; a few people even enjoyed a short game of croquet; about 50 visitors went back in time yesterday for the Fourth of July celebration at the Glenn House; the lawn party was sponsored by the Historical Society of Greater Cape Girardeau.. ...

Bonita Sparks and Paula Austin, recently appointed as associate pastors at Centenary United Methodist Church, are introduced to the congregation and begin their new duties; Sparks has served churches in Willowdale, Indiana, Louisville, Kentucky and Park Hills, Missouri; Austin was youth leader and program director at Trinity United Methodist Church in Moberly, Missouri...

Cape Girardeau would cash in on riverboat gambling under a Boyd Gaming Corp. development plan; in its first year of operation, Boyd would pay out nearly $1.7 million combined to Cape Girardeau city, the local school district and two civic organizations -- Colonial Cape Foundation and the Greater Cape Girardeau Historical Association -- if the gambling venture attracts 860,000 customers as envisioned; the city would receive nearly $1 million of that; in return, Boyd wants the city to give it exclusive riverboat gambling rights for the next 15 years.. ...

Southeast Missouri State University's dairy farm is all milked out; one by one, the heard of 100 Holsteins was auctioned off Thursday under an orange and brown tent on the farm along County Road 618, north of Cape Girardeau; the milking equipment was also sold; the school has decided to change from a dairy and beef farm to strictly a beef-cattle operation...

In an effort to improve safety at a dangerous crossing, traffic lights are being raised for the intersection of Interstate 55 and Highway 61 between Cape Girardeau and Jackson, also known as Center Junction; numerous accidents there prompted the highway department to place the traffic lights at the intersection; they should be operational in two weeks...

In an effort to promote positive change, a Cape Girardeau organization is taking its message on gangs, drugs and violence to the street; preaching unity and faith in Jesus, the House of Prayer Outreach Mission is holding a week-long revival on Middle Street near the corner of Good Hope Street; the street revival began Monday night, with close to 150 people attending...

Dutchtown residents, the Cape Girardeau County Commission and the Army Corps of Engineers all agree: A permanent solution to flooding at Dutchtown is needed; some Dutchtown residents have told the commission they want a permanent levee built to protect their homes and businesses...

Worship services were somber yesterday at the Salvation Army, evoking more tears than a typical funeral; it was the going-away meeting for Majors Elmer and Sandra Trapp, who came to Cape Girardeau seven years ago; the pews were filled with their friends and converts, all sad to see the charismatic couple go...

The Rev. Scott Lohse, 37, has been appointed senior pastor at New McKendree United Methodist Church in Jackson; he replaces the Rev. Otto Steinmeyer, who has announced his retirement. The Rev. Dr. Keith L. Riddle has been named the new minister of First Presbyterian Church (USA) of Cape Girardeau; he is associate minister of Highland Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville, North Carolina; the Cape Girardeau church has sought a minister through a pulpit nomination committee for the past 18 months...

Boyd Gaming Corp. has moved a step closer to bringing a riverboat casino to Cape Girardeau, giving city officials a draft of its development agreement; the agreement spells out exactly what Boyd will do in return for permission to dock a boat on the city's riverfront, including improvements Boyd will make to city streets, water mains and sewer lines...

Southeast Missouri State University president Dr. Kala M. Stroup will become the state's next commissioner of education Sept. 1; the nine-member Coordinating Board for Higher Education made the decision in a 15-minute telephone conference call yesterday afternoon...

Southeast Missouri State University president Dr. Kala Stroup would take Missouri's Coordinating Board for Higher Education commissioner's job, if offered; she made that clear at a closed-door university Board of Regents meeting yesterday afternoon...

Capital Bancorporation Inc., a multi-bank holding company headquartered in Cape Girardeau, has announced an agreement to sell to Union Planters Corp. of Memphis, Tennessee; the banking company, founded in this county more than a century ago under the banner of Cape County Bank, operates 31 facilities through five subsidiary banks in Southeast, central and eastern Missouri and northern Arkansas...

Reversing earlier decisions, the Cape Girardeau City Council last night voted 5-0 to trim back golf and recreation fee increases to bring them within the constraints of a 5% tax-and-fee cap approved by the council last June; the council, with two members absent, also defeated a sewer fee hike, 3-2...

Residents who live along Highway 177 are tired of taking detours because of flooding; they want the Missouri Highways and Transportation Department to raise two short sections of the road high enough to keep the state route open when Mississippi River floodwaters back up into area creeks; the largest section extends about a quarter of a mile, just north of the Cape Girardeau city limits; another section farther north near Rolling Hills Subdivision extends about a tenth of a mile...

The congregation of First Baptist Church, 926 Broadway, celebrates the 15th anniversary of Dr. John Owen as pastor of the church; Dr. John Hughes, pastor of First Baptist Church at Independence, Missouri, delivers the message at the morning worship service; the service is followed by a potluck dinner; during the evening service, three generations of the Owen family -- Dr. Franklin Owen, Dr. John Owen and John Nathan Owen -- present a "Tribute to My Father."...

Cape Girardeau Mayor Al Spradling III has changed his mind on the golf and recreation fee hikes; on Monday he plans to ask the City Council to scale back the fee hikes to bring them in line with the city's 5% annual cap on tax and fee increases; originally, golf and recreation fees were set to increase by as much as 8% in the city budget...

Harry Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, will share billing with outlaw brothers Frank and Jesse James on a block-long Missouri Wall of Fame mural proposed by the River Heritage Mural Association; the mural, being designed by Margaret Randol Dement, will feature the likeness of some 45 famous Missourians and will cover the entire inside of the river wall space between Independence and Merriwether streets...

Signs of the flooding Mississippi River's retreat -- mud-covered walkways and water-stained siding, wet carpet lying on the lawn and ruined furniture heaped on the curb -- show Cape Girardeans have reached the cleanup phase; if all goes as predicted, the river will drop below flood stage at Cape Girardeau next Thursday...

Last Thursday's thunderstorm in Cape Girardeau took its toll on many stately trees; now clean-up efforts are exacting a cost on city streets; that's because city street crews have been busy picking up branches throughout town since Thursday night's storm, and every other type of street maintenance has been placed on the back burner...

EAST CAPE GIRARDEAU, Ill -- A county road from near East Cape Girardeau to north of Gale, Illinois, is open for traffic, but does have water over sections of it; the secondary road, which was being used to avoid construction delays on Illinois 3, was closed only one day; it was reopened Saturday morning, after motorists lodged a number of complaints with Alexander County authorities...

Louisa Panou-Takahashi, assistant professor of music at Southeast Missouri State University, departs for Rome to begin directing Operafestival di Roma 1995, a six-week cavalcade of concerts, recitals and classes that give university singers from around the worl an opportunity to sing and study in the birthplace of opera...