Out of the past 2/2/08

25 years ago: Feb. 2, 1983

A baffling new disease transmitted by some blood donors to unsuspecting blood transfusion recipients has the American Red Cross concerned; the disease, AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome), was all but unheard of until recent years; Dr. William Miller of St. Louis, division manager of Red Cross operations for Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois, is in Cape Girardeau to visit hospitals and sites affected by last December's flooding as well as to discuss AIDS.

Carlton Meyer, who has served as Jackson mayor for the past decade, has filed for re-election to a sixth term.

50 years ago: Feb. 2, 1958

Monsignor Joseph H. Huels is invested with the regalia of a domestic prelate in ceremonies conducted in the afternoon at Sacred Heart Catholic Church at Poplar Bluff, Mo.; officiating is the Most Rev. Charles H. Helmsing, bishop of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese.

Thousands of trees will be planted this spring at the Springdale Bird Sanctuary on Cape Rock Drive; approval for the pine plantation is voted in a public meeting at the First Christian Church.

75 years ago: Feb. 2, 1933

Paying Old Appleton another surprise visit around 2 a.m., a half-dozen Prohibition agents arrest three men in connection with the alleged dispatching of two cargoes of beer from the brewery there and seize two motor trucks; the trucks are laden with 8,156 pints of beer.

Representatives of companies that will supply materials for the new Montgomery Ward & Co. store on Main Street say it is the largest building project now in progress in Missouri; when completed, it will cost about $60,000.

100 years ago: Feb. 2, 1908

After several months of search to find a pastor, the members of the Christian Church have called the Rev. B.H. Whiston of Aurora, Neb.; he is expected to take over his new duties Feb. 23.

The Republican county convention held yesterday at Jackson was the best attended and most harmonious meeting of the kind ever held in Cape Girardeau County; speeches were made by Judge John A. Snider, Fred Kies, E.W. Flentge, E.F. Regenhardt and L.R. Johnson; delegates and alternates to the congressional and state conventions were selected.

-- Sharon K. Sanders