Out of the past 2/16/06

25 years ago: Feb. 16, 1981

NEW MADRID, Mo. -- A Puxico, Mo., farmer begins taking 30,000 bushels of soybeans he claims are his from the Ristine elevator near here; Wayne Cryts and about half a dozen other farmers pry open a seam in a sheet metal grain bin and use a vacuum device to suck the grain into a truck; about 600 farmers, many from the area but also from a number of other states, are on hand at the elevator, as are about six U.S. marshals, who don't attempt to prevent the removal.

Dr. Dennis B. Elrod, a longtime Cape Girardeau physician and renowned outdoorsman dies; he was 73 years old.

50 years ago: Feb. 16, 1956

Unregistered Cape Girardeau voters -- estimated at about one-half the voting population -- have only three more days to get their names on the city's books if they expect to vote in the municipal primary and general elections on March 20 and April 3; Sara Andrews, registrar, says the books will be closed at 4:30 Monday evening.

Joseph Jaeger Jr. of Jefferson City, Mo., director of state parks, is in Cape Girardeau; he meets with Charles W. Boutin, a member of the State Park Board, and the two make a tour of the proposed Trail of Tears park area along the Mississippi River north of Cape Girardeau.

75 years ago: Feb. 16, 1931

Bids for paving the viaduct over the Frisco Railroad on Highway 61 south of Cape Girardeau and for graveling and paving Highway 74 from the viaduct to Dutchtown will be received by the Missouri State Highway Department at Jefferson City on Feb. 28; the distance of the viaduct project will be slightly in excess of one-fourth mile, and will complete the paving of Highway 61 in this vicinity; it is graveled now.

Secretary W.F.D. Batjer of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce tenders his resignation to the board of directors, effective April 1.

100 years ago: Feb. 16, 1906

J.W. Miller, Cape Girardeau county clerk, died at his home in Millersville last night after a long illness; Miller is survived by his wife and two sons; one son conducts a large general store in Millersville, and the other is a physician in New Mexico.

The Women's Relief Corps has renewed its offer of a gold medal to the pupil of the sixth, seventh, eighth or ninth grades of the Cape Girardeau public schools writing the best essay on the subject, "The Significance of Our Nation's Flag."

-- Sharon K. Sanders