Out of the past 10/21/07

25 years ago: Oct. 21, 1982

The coolest weather of the fall season came during the night, leaving the first trace of frost over parts of the area; the overnight low in Cape Girardeau was 35 degrees.

The Missouri Board of Education votes to place the proposed merger of the Chaffee and Delta school districts before voters April 5; voters from both districts must approve the measure for it to go into effect.

50 years ago: Oct. 21, 1957

The absentee list in Cape Girardeau schools, public and parochial, grows, as students are sent home as influenza begins to cut a wider swath through the city; with reports incomplete, 703 youngsters are reported absent from the city's schools.

A metal silo, virtually filled with new sorgo silage at the Brase farm near Arbor, Mo., was blown down during a freak, localized wind Friday night; in falling, the structure ripped away a portion of the barn roof.

75 years ago: Oct. 21, 1932

Dr. Huber W. Hurt of New York City, editor of Boy Scout handbooks and director of research for Boy Scouts of America, is in Cape Girardeau give two lectures at sessions of the Southeast Missouri Teachers Association and to be the guest of honor at a dinner of the Southeast Missouri Council of Boy Scouts in the evening at the Hotel Marquette.

Dr. Joseph A. Serena, president of Teachers College, speaking at the Alumni Association dinner, says a bill likely will be introduced in the next Missouri Legislature dropping the word "teacher" from the official name of the state's colleges.

100 years ago: Oct. 21, 1907

Prosecuting Attorney H.L. Alexander has sent letters to the owners of the Riverview, St. Charles and Merten hotels, the Masonic building, the Houck building at Main and Themis streets, the Sturdivant Bank building, the Whitelaw building and a number of others on Main Street, asking for prompt compliance with the statutes that dictate the installation of a fire escape on every building of three stories or taller.

James Gerecke of Gordonville was in Cape Girardeau yesterday on his way to St. Louis to watch the balloon races.

-- Sharon K. Sanders