Out of the past 12/8/11

25 years ago: Dec. 8, 1986

Plans for a proposed 1,250-acre community recreational lake complex that would be built at a cost of about $12 million along Cape LaCroix Creek, north of Cape Girardeau, are announced by a group of Cape Girardeau and Jackson civic leaders; the group, which includes Cape Girardeau Mayor Gene Rhodes and Jackson Mayor Carlton Meyer, presents its plan to the county commission.

Authorities in Southeast Missouri are searching a heavily wooded area west of Millersville for two armed men who held up an all-night convenience store at the Highway 51-Interstate 55 interchange in Perryville, Mo., early this morning.

50 years ago: Dec. 8, 1961

The Rev. Leo P. Kampmann, right, was elevated to the rank of domestic prelate, with the title of monsignor, in 1961. At left is Bishop Charles H. Helmsing, bishop of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese. (Missourian archives photo by G.D. "Frony" Fronabarger)

Bishop Charles H. Helmsing presides at the investiture of the Rev. Leo P. Kampmann in the afternoon at St. Mary Cathedral; Kampmann, pastor of St. Mary, is elevated to the rank of domestic prelate with the title of monsignor.

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Douglas W. Thompson, 27, who carved a path of death across Southeast Missouri last March, is found guilty and sentenced to die in the state gas chamber for the slaying of Herbert L. Goss, Cape Girardeau auxiliary policeman.

75 years ago: Dec. 8, 1936

The city tax levied against oil company bulk plants doing business in Cape Girardeau in the future is to be $300 a year, where it had been $50; the city council passed an ordinance yesterday changing the rate.

Only half the expected SS5, or employees' Social Security, applications have been turned in so far at the post office; up to noon, 3,800 had been checked in, but about twice that number are expected.

100 years ago: Dec. 8, 1911

At a well-attended meeting last night, members of the Commercial Club elected David A. Glenn president of the organization.

A plumber installing sewer connections to a house on South Sprigg Street leaves an open ditch along that road and fails to light it sufficiently; Will Mars, a mailman, and James Kinder, the Haarig druggist, drive right into the deep ditch after dark; it takes them several hours and a number of friends to get old Dobbins out of the trench.

-- Sharon K. Sanders