Out of the past 10/16/05

25 years ago: Oct. 16, 1980

After listening to a number of angry residents lash out against Cape Girardeau police chief Henry H. Gerecke and his department, the city council voted last night to form a "professional" task force to investigate alleged misconduct within the department.

"Feeding the meter" is a thing of the past in Cape Girardeau; the city council has unanimously decided to discontinue the use of parking meters throughout the city; the decision follows a request from the Cape Girardeau Metro Association that meters be removed from the downtown area.

50 years ago: Oct. 16, 1955

Cape Girardeau's finances, which have had ups and downs the past four years -- largely downs as city officials have wrestled with increasing expenses -- were back on an even keel at the end of September, the first time since 1951; the general revenue balance at the end of business Sept. 30 was $3,769.91.

Herbert Philbrick, the FBI counterspy and author of the book "I Led Three Lives," will be the feature speaker at the 80th annual session of the Southeast Missouri Teachers Association Friday at Houck Field House.

75 years ago: Oct. 16, 1930

A 25-year-old robber and four-time convict made a daring escape from the Cape Girardeau city jail last night and has apparently made good his getaway, despite an intensive manhunt throughout Southeast Missouri; sawing two bars over a window of the cell room on the second floor of the jail, the bandit slid to freedom by means of an improvised rope made from blankets.

Russell R. Hibbs of Cape Girardeau has been granted a patent by the U.S. Patent Office for an electrically operated wood-grooving machine.

100 years ago: Oct. 16, 1905

Actual work on the building of the new gas plant begins in the morning; L.J. Albert, Judge L.F. Klostermann, Dr. John D. Porterfield, Joseph Clark and Thomas Fox, all directors of the company, take the air in a walk up to the site of the new plant, and later take spades and dig out a trench, in which one side of the foundation will be laid.

Through the failure of the city to obtain a single bid for the building of the sewer system, all immediate prospects for the great sanitary work have faded; it seems to be a certainty that no work can be accomplished this winter.

-- Sharon K. Sanders