Out of the past 11/8/08

25 years ago: Nov. 8, 1983

Pat Colon, former standout at Cape Girardeau Central High School and now center for the Southeast Missouri State women's basketball team, has received an invitation to try out for the 1984 U.S. Olympics basketball team.

Voters in Cape Girardeau approved a 3 percent tax on rates at hotels and motels and a 1 percent tax on restaurants; the taxes will help establish a convention-tourism bureau and will help pay a $5 million bond issue for a multipurpose building at Southeast Missouri State University.

50 years ago: Nov. 8, 1958

Capaha Bluffs, long considered one of the most scenic spots near Cape Gir­ardeau, has been undergoing an annual cleanup by workers of the Cape Special Road District; the face of the bluffs has been cleared of underbrush as well as the 60-foot right of way along old Highway 74 in that area.

The State College Indians defeat the Warrensburg Mules, 42-6, to claim the 1958 MIAA Conference championship for the second straight season; without a blemish of defeat, the Indians will begin training for the season's finale next Saturday.

75 years ago: Nov. 8, 1933

Opposition to granting the Missouri Utilities Co. another 20-year franchise to operate its electric light and water plants in Cape Girardeau was voiced last night at a meeting at Common Pleas Courthouse; the meeting, under the auspices of the Cape Girardeau Taxpayers League, urged listeners to vote against the franchise proposal at Tuesday's election; speaking against the proposal was city counselor Frank A. Lowery.

Morris Gaines and Bill McLane, halfbacks for the Central Tigers, are staging a race for high scoring honors for the football season; Gaines is ahead by a single point with 19.

100 years ago: Nov. 8, 1908

The Rev. George D. Hilpert is ordained pastor of the Illmo Lutheran church, with the Rev. A. Wilder of Cape Girar­deau in charge of the installation service; Hilpert's former charge was in Niagara, N.D.

Sixteen box cars burn on the Gulf Line of the Frisco Railroad at Tallapoosa, Mo., having been set afire by the forest fires in New Madrid County.

-- Sharon K. Sanders