History

Parking in Cape Girardeau is cramped and restaurants packed when approximately 4,400 people arrive for the Missouri State Teachers' Association's district meeting, a spring convention of Elks and a Children with Attention Deficit Disorder conference; Mary Miller, director of Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau, says the meeting and conferences are an excellent opportunity for retail shops and eateries...

Three nationally known folk singers will perform this spring in KRCU's Spring Folk Music Series: singer-guitarists Tom May and Bill Staines, and autoharpist Bryan Bowers; the station sponsored two successful concerts last year to test the water for a series that is likely to become a permanent KRCU production...

"A town in order to grow must attract laboring men" -- declared a promotional piece circulated at the cusp of ambitious plans for industrial expansion in Cape Girardeau. And low-waged laborers needed housing. Several landowner entrepreneurs responded by filing, with the county recorder, subdivisions of their properties, south of the Cape Girardeau city limits. ...

NEW YORK -- Lance Reddick, a character actor who specialized in intense, icy and possibly sinister authority figures on TV and film, including "The Wire", "Fringe" and the "John Wick" franchise, has died. He was 60. Reddick died "suddenly" Friday morning, his publicist Mia Hansen said in a statement, attributing his death to natural causes. His death was first reported by celebrity website TMZ.com...

Cape Girardeau's Weed and Seed committee has established the city's south side for its first project; the committee met last night to decide how to distribute about $40,000 to groups that provide educational development and recreational activities on the city's south side; funds will go to the Civic Center, the Greater Dimension Church of God in Christ, May Greene Elementary School and the Salvation Army...

Cape Girardeau Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3838 has canceled the annual Fourth of July fireworks celebration, but an outpouring of interest could prompt it to reconsider; the post needs people or organizations to help plan and fund a celebration and clean up afterwards...

Kenneth E. "Kenny" Bender, a 1943 Cape Girardeau Central graduate who finished Southeast Missouri State University in 1948 on the GI Bill and was a highly-decorated World War II veteran, died Sunday, March 12, following a lifetime of service to his country, community and church. He was 97...

ST. LOUIS -- Congressman Dick Gephardt says he is hopeful of getting the Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, levee project back on track after the work was endangered by budget cuts and federal regulations; after meeting with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the weekend, the House minority leader is pledging to seek another $10 million over the next three years to rescue the foundering $48 million flood control project...

U.S. Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond was the keynote speaker yesterday at the 28th Cape Girardeau County Lincoln Day dinner; about 300 tickets were sold for the annual event sponsored by the Cape Girardeau County Republican Women's Club; in his remarks, Bond said President Bill Clinton should tell the truth so government and the nation can get on with the work at hand...

Auto thefts are up in Missouri but down in Cape Girardeau; despite the number of security devices available to deter auto thievery, 24,170 vehicles were reported stolen in Missouri during 1997, the Missouri Highway Patrol reports; that's an increase of 5% over 1996; in Cape Girardeau, however, the number of vehicle thefts fell from 135 in 1996 to 102 in 1997, city police reported...

WASHINGTON -- Former U.S. Rep. Pat Schroeder, a pioneer for women's and family rights in Congress, died Monday night. She was 82. Schroeder's former press secretary, Andrea Camp, said Schroeder suffered a stroke recently and died at a hospital in Celebration, Florida, the city where she had been residing in recent years...

An Indian mascot for Southeast Missouri State University could be appropriate if the costume is authentic looking and mirrors the type of clothing that would have been worn by Indians in the region, says school president Dr. Dale Nitzschke; Nitzschke says American Indians have told school officials they don't have a problem with an Indian mascot as long as the school is committed to understanding and respecting Native American culture; the school has been without a mascot for a number of years, even though its athletic teams continue to be called the Indians and Otahkians.. ...

When an acquaintance of mine told me that a headstone in Memorial Park Cemetery in Cape Girardeau County bore a carrot cake recipe, I was both delighted and curious -- was this an "over my dead body" situation, or a "share it with the world"? Cemeteries are a favorite of mine, as they're peaceful places to memorialize and put monuments to those who have gone before us. ...

The U.S. attorney's office is investigating a link between criminal elements in Mexico and methamphetamine trafficking in Southeast Missouri; U.S. Attorney Larry Ferrell yesterday told students and faculty at Southeast Missouri State University's Criminal Justice Day that the government is trying to destroy drug trafficking operations in the region; the criminal organizations involved are thought to be dominated by Mexicans who have recently moved into meth distribution and are using transportation and distribution routes established for cocaine and marijuana.. ...

Perryville, Mo. -- The Perry County Historical Society will welcome William Eddleman at its regular bimonthly meeting Monday, March 20. Eddleman will be presenting on the history of Tower Rock, the landmark stone that rises from the Mississippi River adjacent to eastern Perry County. A former university professor and president of the Cape Girardeau County Genealogical Society, Eddleman is coordinator of the State Historical Society of Missouri's Cape Girardeau Research Center...

Temperatures aren't expected to climb out of the 30s as the region remains in the grip of a cold front that passed through with a vengeance Monday; the return of winter weather followed an extended period of spring-like temperatures through much of February and early March, making this latest blast of arctic air difficult for most to deal with...

Fishing promises to improve at the two large lakes in the Cape Girardeau County parks; on Monday, the County Commission approved the restocking of the lakes with 2,000 channel catfish; Bruce Watkins, park superintendent, said 1,000 of the catfish will be stocked in each lake; in addition, 75 pounds of minnows will be added to the lakes to serve as food for the catfish and bass...

LOS ANGELES -- Robert Blake, the Emmy award-winning performer who went from acclaim for his acting to notoriety when he was tried and acquitted in the killing of his wife, died Thursday at age 89. A statement released on behalf of his niece, Noreen Austin, said Blake died from heart disease, surrounded by family at home in Los Angeles...

JERUSALEM -- Chaim Topol, a leading Israeli actor who charmed generations of theatergoers and movie-watchers with his portrayal of Tevye, the long-suffering and charismatic milkman in "Fiddler on the Roof," has died in Tel Aviv, Israeli leaders said Thursday. He was 87...

A Scott City woman has accused city officials of deception after discovering materials set aside for recycling were actually being dumped into the city's trash and taken to the landfill; Tanya Davis went before the Scott City Council last month to complain that the recycling program, for which the city has receive a $39,000 state grant, wasn't being implemented; although the city did construct the building and purchase the equipment outlined in the grant proposal, no recycling has ever been done.. ...

Mike Rushing of Jackson, who died Sunday, March 5, at age 79, is being remembered for his vocation as co-founder of Rushing Marine, which has owned and operated towboats since 1979, as well as for his many avocations, which friends said improved the lives of many...

Travelers on County Road 351 drive through a canopy of trees to an 88-year-old bridge that crosses the Little Whitewater River; but the historic span in Cape Girardeau County is slated to be dismantled when a new bridge is built across the river later this year; "It's one of those things," says Judy Wilferth, who owns a farm in the area; "It's considered an attractive nuisance. ...

The building that once housed the Broadway Theatre has been granted a stay of execution after a majority of Cape Girardeau City Council members voted to explore other options outside of demolishing the downtown landmark. Council members voted 4-3 in favor of directing city staff to seek alternatives, including a plan laid out in a presentation given before council to renovate the building. ...

SIKESTON, Mo. -- A race is on for the 160th District state representative's seat; Peter Myers, a Sikeston Republican, filed Thursday for the seat held by Sikeston Democrat Joe Heckemeyer, who is seeking re-election; Myers said he would fight to keep government accountable to the people and for tax cuts for working families...

PARIS -- The reconstruction of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is going fast enough to allow its reopening to visitors and faithful at the end of 2024, less than six years after a fire ravaged its roof, French officials said Monday. The cathedral's iconic spire, which collapsed in the blaze, will gradually start reappearing above the monument this year in a powerful signal of its revival, the army general in charge of the colossal project, Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin said...

Gary Rossington, a co-founder and last surviving original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd who helped write the classic answer song "Sweet Home Alabama" and played unforgettable slide guitar on the rock anthem "Free Bird", died Sunday at age 71. No cause of death was given...

The Cape Girardeau County Commission is considering whether it should donate county-owned Klaus Park for a Missouri Veterans Cemetery; the Cape Girardeau Joint Veterans Council has been searching for a site of 50 to 80 acres that could be donated for a cemetery, but has been unable to find a donor; last week, the council asked the commission to donate Klaus Park; the commission tabled action to seek information on the legality of making the park a cemetery and to get public opinion of the idea...

SELMA, Ala. -- President Joe Biden used the searing memories of Selma's "Bloody Sunday" to recommit to a cornerstone of democracy, lionizing a seminal moment from the civil rights movement at a time when he has been unable to push enhanced voting protections through Congress and a conservative Supreme Court has undermined a landmark voting law...

If a deceased person failed to write a will, the laws of the state govern property distribution. As mentioned in my previous column, this is termed intestate inheritance. While the will is probably the key document for testate inheritance, the key genealogical documents for intestate inheritance are documents generated by the steps of the process. ...

President Clinton should tell the American people the truth about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, former White House adviser George Stephanopoulos said yesterday; "If he made a mistake, he should own up to it," Clinton's former political strategist said; Stephanopoulos commented on the White House scandal during a visit to Southeast Missouri State University; he met with reporters and later delivered a speech to a packed room of 500 people at the University Center...

Talks aimed at affiliating Cape Girardeau's two hospitals are on schedule, the administrators say, with consensus already reached on some of the thorniest issues; one of those, agreement on an ethical and religious directive, has been resolved to the satisfaction of Bishop John Leibrecht of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church; under the agreement, Southeast Hospital no longer would perform sterilization procedures or therapeutic abortions for women...

I volunteer one day a week at the Research Annex for the Cape Girardeau County Historical Society in Jackson to help process their small manuscript collection, which is almost 100 years of files. It might sound boring to some, but for a historian, it's a great read of history on Cape Girardeau County. I get to meet people, most of whom have passed, who have contributed to the history of our county. About a month ago I came across a file named "David E. Hayes, Cape Poet."...

Southeast Missouri State University will launch a yearlong 150th birthday celebration Wednesday, March 22, with a midday street fair along Normal Avenue between Academic Hall and Kent Library from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on the Cape Girardeau campus...

Jimmy Carter, 98, the nation's 39th president now living out his final days in hospice care, never came to Cape Girardeau for any campaign events during his two runs for the White House in 1976 and 1980. ...

Old Town Cape will hold its annual dinner to celebrate downtown Thursday, March 9, when major accomplishments and outstanding contributions from the past year will be recognized. This year's theme for the dinner, which will be at Century Casino Cape Girardeau Event Center, is "Volunteers are Our Heroes"...

LOS ANGELES -- Wayne Shorter, an influential jazz innovator whose lyrical, complex jazz compositions and pioneering saxophone playing sounded through more than a half-century of American music, has died. He was 89. Shorter died Thursday surrounded by his family in Los Angeles, said Alisse Kingsley, a representative for the multi-Grammy winner. No cause of death was given...

The Cape Girardeau City Council tabled action on a controversial road assessment policy to gather more public input; the council voted last night to hold a public hearing March 16 to give residents a chance to comment on the proposed policy; it outlines how much property owners would be assessed for new roads or widening of residential, commercial and residential-commercial streets designated under the Transportation Trust Fund; the Hopper Road extension project was the center of discussion at last night's meeting.. ...

BENTON, Mo. -- Scott County government will see a changing of the guard in the upcoming months when three long-time county officials leave office; Presiding Commissioner Bob Kielhofner and County Collector Tom Marshall, both of whom have held county office since the early 1970s, didn't file for re-election last week but announced their decisions to retire; Treasurer H. ...

More than 1,000 people cheered for God at a Christian youth rally yesterday in Cape Girardeau; many of the participants at "The Joshua Generation: Taking America Back" rally were of high-school age and younger; they came to the Holiday Inn Convention Center from Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana; they stood and clapped to Christian music performed by singer Kristin Swinford and a band from the Faith Evangelical Free Church in Cape Girardeau...

PLAINS, Ga. -- When Jimmy Carter stepped onto the national stage, he brought along those closest to him, introducing Americans to a colorful Georgia family that helped shape the 39th president's public life and now, generations later, is rallying around him for the private final chapter of his 98 years...

The City of Cape Girardeau's Historic Preservation Commission is accepting nominees for its 2023 Endangered Buildings List, a compilation of various structures in the city that provide cultural and historical value but have degraded over time and are potentially in line for demolition...

A group foster home under construction next to Abundant Life Church in Gordonville will be more like a large family home than a "children's prison", as some neighbors fear, says the Rev. David Butler, the church pastor; neighbors aren't confident that the people undertaking the project are prepared for the task at hand; they also worry that the children who will live in the home might pose a threat to the small community's tranquility...

Restoring older buildings — especially those dating back to the late 1800s and early 1900s — is not an easy feat. It is usually much simpler to buy a new building and avoid the headache of adapting a century-old property to fit modern standards.

City of Cape Girardeau put its former municipal office building at 401 Independence St. on the market Friday, Feb. 24, for $870,000. Jacob Fish of Edge Realty is listing agent for the 86-year old brick structure, which the city moved into in 1978 and used through 2021 before relocating to its new home at 44 N. Lorimier St., the former Common Pleas Courthouse...

Firefighters from three Cape Girardeau fire stations responded yesterday morning to a report of smoke coming from a building at 709 Broadway; when they arrived, they found the building, which housed Local Area Web, an Internet provider, filled with smoke and a small fire in the back; firefighters were able to gain entry to the building and bring the fire under control in just a few minutes...

NEW YORK -- Lolita Jackson was at her 72nd-floor desk in the World Trade Center, feeling like she worked at the top of the world. Then came the boom, and smoke started curling in from an elevator shaft. Unsure what was happening, she joined thousands of other office workers on a harrowing trek down dark, smoky stairs, emerging onto the scene of a terror attack...

The Old Appleton bridge is $200,000 closer to restoration, thanks to a check from the Missouri Department of Transportation; the state funding, coupled with money raised by volunteers, should cover costs of rebuilding and replacing the bridge across Apple Creek, says Renee Dellamano, one of the committee members organizing the restoration; the iron bridge, which is more than a century old, was destroyed by a flash flood in 1982...

Cape Girardeau writer Aileen Lorberg, 88, died yesterday at a local hospital; Lorberg had written a language column -- Lend Me Your Ear -- since 1982; the column appeared in the Southeast Missourian; based on a similar affection for the English language, Lorberg and nationally-syndicated column James J. Kilpatrick became friends years ago; his second book on writing is dedicated to her...