Out of the past: Dec. 13

1999

​Oak Ridge School Board member Jeff Haas wants to close the doors on charter schools; Hahs is president of the Missouri School Boards Association; his group has taken its case against charter schools to court; the statewide organization has filed a brief in support of the St. Louis School Board’s lawsuit against the Missouri charter schools law.

CAIRO, Ill. – Riverlore, built in 1865 by Capt. William Parker Halliday, a Cairo businessman and riverboat pilot, has been purchased by the City of Cairo; the city is the fifth owner of the 11-room mansion at 2723 Washington St.; the city is in the process of establishing a “Riverlore Society” to provide guidance for the historic mansion.

1974

​A new two-year ambulance service contract between the Cape Girardeau County Court and the Cape County Private Ambulance Service of Cape Girardeau more than doubles the annual subsidy that had been paid the firm by the county and the cities of Cape Girardeau and Jackson under the old three-year contract; the County Court yesterday finalized terms of the new contract, which provides for an annual subsidy of $54,000, $27,900 more than was paid annually under the contract that expires Dec. 31.

A four-day work week has been instituted at most of the 17 factories of International Shoe Co., including those at Perryville and Jackson, and the firm is closing its Evansville, Illinois, plant in an effort to cut back on production.

1949

​Reports from scattered parts of three cotton counties in this district say some landowners are notifying tenants and sharecroppers that, due to the government program reducing cotton acreage, they won’t renew contracts for the 1950 cotton season; counties most seriously affected by the reduction are Scott, Mississippi and Stoddard; the acreage reduction varies in each county, but is said to average from 15% to 20% countywide.

Attorneys for Mrs. Iska Carmack have filed a petition before the U.S. Court of Appeals for a rehearing of the most recent phase of the Courthouse Park-post office suit; the Court of Appeals recently affirmed a decision handed down in Federal Court here that the city is entitled to compensation for the condemned portion of the park, not the Lorimier heirs, of which Carmack is one.

1924

​The Goodwin & Jean poultry house at Delta, which ships an average of two railroad carloads of poultry to New York City each week, will be materially affected by the embargo placed on shipments of chickens from Missouri to New York, says W.T. Dickey, manager of the Delta plant; the two carloads of chickens, shipped nearly every week from the local plant, are valued at $3,000 each, and the embargo will force the poultry house to start dressing the birds before they are shipped; this will require more workers and added expense.

Christmas trees adorn the sidewalks in front of practically every business house in Cape Girardeau’s downtown, and vary-colored lights have been strung along three blocks on Broadway; plans are underway to hold a community Christmas tree in the Good Hope business district for the children of the city; it has been suggested that the tree be erected in the lobby of the Orpheum Theater, and that, on the night of the celebration, city officials close the block between Sprigg and Frederick to traffic; the children will assemble there and march past the tree, where they’ll be given a present by Santa Claus.

Southeast Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders compiles the information for the daily Out of the Past column. She also writes a weekend column called “From the Morgue” that showcases interesting historical stories from the newspaper.