Out of the past 1/12/12

25 years ago: Jan. 12, 1987

Richard R. Griffith has purchased Standley Batch Systems Inc., formerly known as Standley Bin & Conveyer Co.; Griffith, who has been with the firm more than 14 years, has been gradually purchasing the company over the past few years through an arrangement with its founder, Elmer Standley.

Cape Girardeau City Council members met in a closed-door meeting Saturday and agreed to "work as one for community betterment;" the meeting was held to discuss one city official's criticism of the city manager, as well as the roles of the mayor, the council and the city manager.

50 years ago: Jan. 12, 1962

Boat traffic on the ice-clogged Mississippi River continues its slow gait; more and heavier ice floes in the Cape Girardeau vicinity have reduced the open water to only 20 percent of the total river surface.

Walter M. Clark, chief of resource management of the State Civil Defense, says enough emergency supplies to sustain 1,700 people in the rural areas of Cape Girardeau County for two weeks after a nuclear disaster will arrive here soon; the supplies will be identical to those which will be sent to the shelters in Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

75 years ago: Jan. 12, 1937

Purchase of $5,000 worth of additional switchboard equipment to serve the Cape Girardeau exchange has been authorized by stockholders of Southeast Missouri Telephone Co.

Elmer Eggimann, living at Gordonville, made the 10-mile trip from the village to Cape Girardeau on Monday on ice skates; while he couldn't skate up Flint Hill, two miles west of Cape Girardeau, he made all other grades; while here, he bought a used car from the Lesem-Millikan garage, threw his skates inside and drove home.

100 years ago: Jan. 12, 1912

Cape Girardeau is experiencing some of the most severe winter weather in its history; the temperature of late has matched lows set in 1899; the river is frozen tight, and the snow is the deepest it has been for several years; it's almost impossible for trains to run.

The Terminal Hotel has been given a general overhauling and is ready for business under the management of W.F. DeLong of Blytheville, Ark., a hotel man of experience and reputation.

-- Sharon K. Sanders