Out of the past 2/26/06

25 years ago: Feb. 26, 1981

The old Cape Girardeau Public Library building, which has been renovated for use as a Cape Girardeau County government office building, is officially renamed the Common Pleas Courthouse Annex by the county court.

Advertising in newspapers that circulate primarily among blacks, inviting more black high school counselors and principals for campus visits, and even arranging transportation to the campus for black high school pupils are all part of a proposed plan at Southeast Missouri State University to increase the proportion of black students on campus.

50 years ago: Feb. 26, 1956

Mayor Narvol A. Randol yesterday announced that he will be a candidate for the nomination for re-election at the Cape Girardeau primary election on March 20; no other candidates have filed for this office, although there are two candidates for commissioner.

John Casebolt, 55, of Chaffee, Mo., dies in the afternoon in his 1953 Oldsmobile, where he is trapped when a semi-trailer carrying 26,000 pounds of dressed poultry topples onto the machine, crushing it and fatally injuring Casebolt; his wife, Madeline Casebolt, 41, is injured in the accident, which occurs at the Blomeyer, Mo., intersection of highways 55 and 25.

75 years ago: Feb. 26, 1931

Dancing apparently is staging a comeback in Cape Girardeau, as the need for inexpensive entertainment has been demonstrated; several halls have sprung up and all of them are drawing big crowds; dances are being held at the Community Clubhouse in Fairgrounds Park, at a hall operated on Good Hope Street by Claude Mason and at the National Guard armory.

At its next regular meeting Monday, the Cape Girardeau City Council will take up the question of renewing garbage disposal contracts for the year.

100 years ago: Feb. 26, 1906

W.H. Vogel of Cape Girardeau, brother-in-law of Mrs. Herman Beiderwieden, who disappeared two weeks ago and hasn't been seen since, went down to Taskee, Mo., on the Hoxie train, expecting to consult the woman near that place who is supposed to have powers for locating lost people.

Edward A. Kimmel, one of the most popular men of Cape Girardeau, died yesterday after an illness of two months; Kimmel handled the accounts of several large concerns here, and his acquaintance extended far and wide.

-- Sharon K. Sanders