Out of the past 1/5/02

10 years ago: Jan. 5, 1992

Missouri Highway and Transportation Commissioner John Oliver says that passage of 6-cent state gasoline tax would be "bonanza" for Southeast Missouri; Cape Girardeau lawyer says Missouri will best be able to take advantage of new federal highway bill if voters approve 6-cent increase.

Luther Hahs speaks during Sunday School in sanctuary at Centenary United Methodist Church; he tells about his partial recovery from stroke and shows copies of book he recently published.

25 years ago: Jan. 5, 1977

Fruits of local 1-cent tax levy approved year and half ago will ripen early this spring when new, $500,000 sheltered workshop, employing more than 100 handicapped people, opens; Hilary Schmittzehe, director of VIP Industry, says most major work on 20,000-square-foot structure at Highway 74 and South Boulevard is complete.

Move of City Hall from its present offices in Common Pleas Courthouse to new facilities in old Lorimier School on Independence street is expected to take place shortly after city elections April 5; renovation of building is expected to cost $75,000.

50 years ago: Jan. 5, 1952

Crews of telephone and power workers, no longer hampered by thick coating of ice that brought on all the trouble, concentrate on rehabilitation on storm-stricken area of Southeast Missouri, while locally word is that services should be normal by nightfall.

Petitions are being circulated under direction of committee of business men and other interested people in community asking City Council to call special election to determine if Cape Girardeau should adopt city manager form of government.

75 years ago: Jan. 5, 1927

Under circumstances which authorities consider mysterious, dead body of J.J. Dilport, 88, was found Monday in muddy field 40 yards from his farm home near Cape Girardeau-Jackson road, four miles northwest of here.

Millard Scholz, employee of Ruch Hoop and Lumber Co. at Chaffee, is seriously burned when he falls into vat of hot water at company's plant; he is brought to Cape Girardeau, where his condition is serious; hot water vats are used to soften timber so it will bend easily in making hoops.

- Sharon K. Sanders