Out of the past 12/22/05

25 years ago: Dec. 22, 1980

Newly elected Cape Girardeau County officials are sworn in at the Jackson courthouse by County Clerk Rodney Miller; they include First District County Court Judge Leonard F. Sander, Assessor Jerry L. Reynolds, Second District Judge J. Ronald Fischer, Treasurer Bill Reynolds, Administrator Dorris Young, Coroner Harold G. Cobb and Sheriff Herman "Bob" Gribler.

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff-elect Herman "Bob" Gribler has recommended the county court grant an 18 to 20 percent pay raise for sheriff's department personnel next year; the recommendation is part of Gribler's 1981 budget proposal recently submitted to court.

50 years ago: Dec. 22, 1955

Plans and specifications are being prepared for bidders, and a formal announcement will be made shortly that bids will be received for construction of the first works in the Cape Girardeau flood-control program; bids will be due on Jan. 23 at the St. Louis district office of the U.S. Corps of Engineers.

Ray W. Call, vice president of the Missouri Utilities Co., has been re-elected president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce; other officers elected are: First vice president, Howard H. Boyd; second vice president, Raymond H. Vogel, and treasurer, Edward J. Bauerle.

75 years ago: Dec. 22, 1930

Fire originating in the garret of a two-story brick residence at 7 N. Benton St., owned by Frank Batchelor, guts the second floor of the structure and causes an estimated damage of $3,000; the roof is burned from the building, and furniture in the apartment on the second floor, occupied by Mr. and Mrs. George B. Gerhardt, is ruined.

An annex of two rooms is being built to the Church of God in Marble City Heights suburb; the rooms will be used for Sunday School and are of frame construction.

100 years ago: Dec. 22, 1905

The new courthouse at Jackson promises to be a fine building; late yesterday, the county court and building committee, after a long struggle, decided that the plans of P.H. Weathers of Louisville, Ky., were the best and were accepted; they call for a very handsome stone structure, absolutely fireproof, and to cost $61,000; bids will be asked for at once, and by early spring everything will be in readiness to begin work.

Maj. D.B. Casteel, who has been here for several months issuing the new city directory of Cape Girardeau, completed his labors yesterday and leaves early in morning for his home in St. Louis.

-- Sharon K. Sanders