Out of the past 12/23/06

25 years ago: Dec. 23, 1981

Cape Girardeau County tax collections are running about the same as last year despite the recession, says County Collector Harold D. Kuehle; a total of $3,417,475 had been collected as of Monday.

A Cape Girardeau man was killed yesterday when he fell approximately 30 feet from the upper to lower deck of a towboat on the Mississippi River in Mississippi County; the victim is identified as William Petty Jr., 57, a chief engineer for Wisconsin Barge Lines, for which he had been employed since 1966.

50 years ago: Dec. 23, 1956

A solemn High Mass will be sung at midnight Monday at St. Mary's Cathedral, preceded by a procession and a Nativity tableau; Jean Braun, portraying the Virgin Mary, will carry the statue of the Christ Child to be used in the crib; angels in attendance will be Barbara Goetz, Karen Goehman, Bonnie Farrar and Antoinette Essner, members of the First Communion class.

"Childe Jesus," a Christmas cantata, is performed at First Christian Church in the morning; singers are Barbara Chapman, Mrs. Guy L. Steele, John Bowen and Tom Parker, with Alene Sadler accompanying.

75 years ago: Dec. 23, 1931

Claiming she had left home of her own accord, Imogene Hector, the 17-year-old Delta school girl, was found last night at Memphis, Tenn., hungry and weary.

Jan. 29 is the tentative date set for delivery of the new fire truck purchased by the Cape Girardeau City Council; the American-LaFrance & Foamite Industries Co. truck is being manufactured to the specifications supplied by the city at its factories in Elmira, N.Y.

100 years ago: Dec. 23, 1906

At Cape Girardeau's Methodist Church in the evening, the choir, augmented and enlarged with the city's best singers, gives a church musicale in honor of Christmas; the choir is under the direction of the Rev. and Mrs. E.T. Adams.

Maj. Henry B. Moon, an old Cape Girardeau boy of whom the city is proud, was recently promoted to lieutenant colonel in Uncle Sam's Army; he is a brother of Mrs. H.P. Peironnet.

-- Sharon K. Sanders