Out of the past 12/12/05

25 years ago: Dec. 12, 1980

A 1964 model pumper truck with a 500-gallons-per-minute front mount pump and a 680-gallon water tank was recently purchased and renovated by the Millersville Rural Fire Department; previously, the department had only one old pumper truck, a 1951 model.

Southwestern Bell Telephone customers will notice two big changes in the new Cape Girardeau telephone directory, which is being distributed; the new books won't fit easily under the telephone as did its predecessor; the other change is the inclusion of Scott City and Jackson in the Cape Girardeau book; that consolidation prompted the expansion of the directory from two to four columns wide.

50 years ago: Dec. 12, 1955

Ozark Air Lines has threatened to suspend service to Cape Girardeau unless repairs are made to the runway at the municipal airport; the northeast-southwest strip, used regularly by Ozark pilots, has numerous holes and is soft in places, according to Ozark.

Kenneth Cruse, former Cape Girardeau police chief, has been appointed state adjutant of the American Legion; as adjutant, Cruse will maintain headquarters in Jefferson City, Mo.; all membership and committee records and financial matters of the Legion in Missouri are handled by this office.

75 years ago: Dec. 12, 1930

The Missouri Inspection Bureau, which controls fire rates in this state, in a report to the city council following an inspection of the firefighting facilities in Cape Girardeau, recommends that the city at once provide at least four more full-time firefighters and have two men on the "call" list to sleep at the station at nights.

Residents of Gordonville and community are organizing a stock company, the object of which is to build a power line from that village to Jackson to connect with the lighting system of the Jackson plant.

100 years ago: Dec. 12, 1905

Judge Samuel Hitt, unable to recover from the stroke of paralysis he suffered several days ago, dies early in the morning at age 78 years and 7 months; Hitt was perhaps most widely known as president of the Jackson gravel road company; before his connection with the road, he was a county judge and farmer; he owned a large amount of land west of Cape Girardeau and in the lower part of the county.

The unloading of the new street cars in the morning causes much interest from large crowds.

-- Sharon K. Sanders