Out of the past 5/6/09

More than 136 GOP delegates gather in Cape Girardeau to select three delegates to attend the Republican National Convention, to be held in August in Dallas; selected from the 8th District are Mary Kasten, Dorothy Buford and Rudy Munro.

Commencement ceremonies for more than 700 Southeast Missouri State University students are moved into Houck Field House because of rain; speaking to the graduates is Stephen N. Limbaugh, a Southeast alumnus and a U.S. District judge in St. Louis.

50 years ago: May 6, 1959

The pilot of a crop-dusting airplane, Richard W. Witsoe, 23, is killed when the plane strikes a tree and crashes from a height of 40 feet on a farm near Vanduser, Mo.; Witsoe, who had been in Cape Girardeau about eight months, was a stockholder and pilot of the Aviation Activities Inc., which was incorporated only a few days ago.

R.E.L. Lamkin Jr., executive of the Buckner-Ragsdale Co., is elected president of the Cape Girardeau Lions Club for the coming year.

75 years ago: May 6, 1934

The Rev. Matthew Edwards, pastor of the First Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, announces that the congregation has leased the building at 539 N. Main St., and in the future will hold services there.

Bill McLane, Central High School runner, won second place in the 120-yard high hurdles in Class A at the state high school meet at Columbia, Mo., yesterday; the event was won by a University City, Mo., youth, who set a new record of 15.2 seconds.

100 years ago: May 6, 1909

There was much activity around the lake at the fairgrounds last night, when a party of 12 fishermen arrived with fishing tackle and began to set their hooks; postmaster E.W. Flentge and fair superintendent Joel T. Nunn were leaders of the party.

Cape Girardeau city officials and several members of the Commercial Club met with the County Court yesterday to discuss work to be done in the city and its suburbs; in the matter of building a bridge across Sloan's Creek, the court agreed to contribute $1,500 toward its construction.

-- Sharon K. Sanders