Out of the past 11/23/04

25 years ago: Nov. 23, 1979

Mrs. Henry H. Gerecke, wife of the Cape Girardeau chief of police, has been asked by Gov. Joseph P. Teasdale to join his recently formed statewide rape task force.

Time is running out on about 400 Cape Girardeau parking meters; more and more often, the red "expired" flags describe the condition of the devices, because the city has discovered that spare parts for the meters can no longer be purchased.

50 years ago: Nov. 23, 1954

A $719,000 construction program which will provide dial telephone facilities for three additional Southeast Missouri communities and link them to the Cape Girar-deau exchange for long-distance calls by means of carrier equipment is nearing completion by Southwestern Bell Telephone Co.; towns converting to dial operation are Oran, Advance and Marble Hill.

The traditional Thanksgiving meal of turkey and trimmings will be enjoyed by more people than ever before, according to local grocers; at prices ranging from 39 cents to 59 cents per pound, turkeys are the lowest priced poultry on the market.

75 years ago: Nov. 23, 1929

Plans for the erection of a radio broadcasting station on U.S. 61, three miles west of Cape Girardeau, are announced by Oscar Hirsch, manager of the Hirsch Battery and Radio Co., 312 S. Frederick St.; transmitters will be housed in a brick building midway between two 128-foot steel towers.

Complete reorganization of the drum and bugle corps of the Louis K. Juden Post of the American Legion was affected last night; a reserve corps was formed, bringing the total membership of the local corps to 60 picked men.

100 years ago: Nov. 23, 1904

While delivering beer early in the morning, Otto Hanny falls from his wagon and suffers a fracture of his left leg; he is taken in his delivery wagon to his home on Broadway, where doctors set the fracture; Hanny is an agent for a St. Louis beer company.

Dr. J.M. Blakemore, Dr. J.G. Parish Jr. and W.H. Langdale Jr. of St. Louis have been spending 10 days with Dr. J.C. Vorbeck, near Kelso, Mo., hunting wild game; they return to St. Louis by train this morning.

-- Sharon K. Sanders