Out of the past 1/23/06

25 years ago: Jan. 23, 1981

NEW MADRID, Mo. -- Action is threatened by Puxico, Mo., farmer Wayne Cryts, who says he needs the money from embargoed soybeans stored in a grain elevator here to plant his crops this spring; Cryts, a member of the American Agriculture Movement, says that unless the matter is resolved in the courts by Feb. 16, he will attempt to take his share of the grain.

The Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents has given its go-ahead for bid documents to be prepared for the university's $3.9 million addition to Magill Hall of Science, which is expected to solve many of the space problems in the school's overcrowded science department.

50 years ago: Jan. 23, 1956

Fire destroyed the IGA store building and an adjacent barber shop and ignited three other buildings at Oak Ridge last night, causing loss estimated at $40,000; the building destroyed for years housed the Hinkle & Statler Mercantile Co., and was long a landmark in the county.

New bids -- the second ones to be asked -- will be received on Feb. 21 for construction of the new Cape Girardeau National Guard armory, it is announced in Jefferson City by Maj. Gen. Albert D. Sheppard, adjutant general of Missouri

75 years ago: Jan. 23, 1931

Oil dealers in Cape Girardeau are opposed to the proposed one-cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline sold at retail filling stations within the city limits; a meeting of oil dealers was held last night, at which the proposed tax was discussed; the tax would supply funds for municipal improvements, chiefly in the fire and police departments.

Within another 30 days, the Little River Drainage District will have completed an estimated 714 miles of ditch and levee clearing in Southeast Missouri; this work, which began in August, is being accomplished by 134 contractors and will cost $40,600.

100 years ago: Jan. 23, 1906

J.T. Morley, J.M. Viernow and George W. Cauddle, the officials of the Southern Smelter and Manufacturing Co. of St. Louis, arrive in Cape Girardeau in the morning and at once go into conference with members of the Commercial Club; they will examine prospective sites for their big smelter plant here.

The Normal School is suffering for want of accommodations for young men; the big dormitory takes care of the young ladies, but the young men are less fortunate; they are forced to seek rooms wherever they can find them.

-- Sharon K. Sanders