Out of the past 12/29/06

25 years ago: Dec. 29, 1981

Republican representatives Bill Emerson of De Soto, Mo., and Wendell Bailey of Willow Springs, Mo., both affected by the state redistricting plan announced yesterday by a panel of federal judges, call it an unpleasant surprise; the only Democrat who has said he will seek re-election in the newly formed 8th District -- Jerry Ford of Cape Girardeau -- says he likes the new plan.

While it won't be a mirror image, Cape Girardeau County Auditor H. Weldon Macke estimates the county's 1982 budget will be similar to this year's $4.8 million budget.

50 years ago: Dec. 29, 1956

Two veteran carriers of the post office, Era Helderman and Ivan S. Neal, will retire this weekend after carrier service which for the two together has spanned 75 years and one month; Helderman has been a carrier since 1913, while Neal began the work in 1925.

Four Cape Girardeau County officers, elected in November, are administered the oaths of office; Judge Marshall Craig hears the oath of Sheriff John C. Crites, and County Clerk Edwin J. Sander administers the oaths of Roland G. Busch, magistrate; Mrs. Marybelle Mueller, probate judge, and J.F. Sigmund, corner.

75 years ago: Dec. 29, 1931

Just under 2,000 Cape Girardeau children are guests of the Cape Girardeau Rotary Club at its annual holiday party at two theaters; approximately 1,300 boys and girls are at the Fox Broadway Theater, and 650 others are entertained at the Fox Orpheum.

In the event governmental approval is given, the Cape Girardeau National Guard unit has signed a lease with Otto Hanebrink of Egypt Mills for a strip of land for use as a rifle range.

100 years ago: Dec. 29, 1906

Professor Otto Eckhardt, the well-known musician, dies in the morning, his death coming after of period of great suffering; Eckhardt was born in Stuttgart, Germany, Jan. 21, 1850, and came to this country while still a young man; for a time he lived in Chicago and was there when the great fire burned the city; in Cape Girardeau he has reared a family and is survived by a widow and four children.

The dance given last night by Mrs. R.B. Oliver for her sons, Allen, Byrd and Palmer, was a very pleasant affair.

-- Sharon K. Sanders