Out of the past 10/20/05

25 years ago: Oct. 20, 1980

The cost of a college education in Cape Girardeau will be going up in 1981, if the Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents this week approves a plan to raise the school's incidental fees; at present, the university's incidental fee is $180 per semester; the increase is expected to be in the $10 to $20 per semester range.

A citizens committee studying the possible reorganization of the Jackson school system almost outnumbers the public at a public hearing at the Primary Annex; only about 15 people, mostly school board members and teachers, attend the meeting.

50 years ago: Oct. 20, 1955

In an effort to determine the cause of frequent periods of congestion at the Sprigg and Pacific Street intersections on Broadway, the City Traffic Advisory Commission has recommended to the city council that a traffic count be made at the two points; the check will determine the amount of traffic, its direction and particularly what percentage of vehicles makes left turns at the intersections.

Stanley Roth, 21, an employee of Roth Motor Co., 905 Broadway, is severely burned when gasoline he is using to clean grease from the floor of the company garage ignites.

75 years ago: Oct. 20, 1930

Two Cape Girardeau youths are drowned when a skiff in which they are rowing down the Mississippi River is forced by the current under a barge of the Marquette Cement Mfg. Co., just north of the company's loading dock in south Cape Girardeau; killed are Jimmie Romine, 21, and Carl Thacker, 18.

The appointment of the Rev. H.C. Hoy for his seventh year as pastor of Centenary Methodist Church was announced yesterday at the concluding session of the annual St. Louis Conference.

100 years ago: Oct. 20, 1905

Henry Boehle, one of the oldest and most reliable men of Cape Girardeau, dies at the home of his son, Herman Boehle; Boehle was born April 27, 1834, in Germany, and came to America in 1866 with his wife; he was a cooper by trade and conducted a shop up to three years ago; his passing removes from the community this week two old citizens and coopers that had spent their lives together.

Newman Erb and family passes through on the St. Louis train in his private car, en route from the South to St. Louis; Erb is the man who built the road from St. Louis to Memphis.

-- Sharon K. Sanders