Out of the past 2/28/03

10 years ago: Feb. 28, 1993

Congregation of Red Star Baptist Church holds special appreciation day for the Rev. and Mrs. Harold "Cy" Smith; it is his last Sunday as pastor of Red Star before he retires from full-time ministry; he has been pastor of local church almost 15 years.

Bull rider is seriously injured while competing in Longhorn World Championship Rodeo at Show Me Center; Brett Zuver, cowboy from Louisville, Ky., is in serious condition at Southeast Missouri Hospital.

25 years ago: Feb. 28, 1978

Winter refused to loosen its grip on this region as yet another major snowstorm swept through Southeast Missouri overnight; for those south of Cape Girardeau, it was third major snow this winter.

Fire last night destroyed barn and its contents on farm of Joseph Chaney, Highway 34 on Bollinger-Cape Girardeau county line; lost were 80 pigs, four sows, a calf, 2,000 bales of hay and 80 tons of milo.

50 years ago: Feb. 28, 1953

County residents will be asked to give $21,700 to charitable causes in two drives beginning in early March; county chapter of Red Cross will seek $16,700, and Easter Seal campaign of Crippled Children's Association will have goal of $5,000.

Former operator of dress factory in Cape Girardeau is seeking 20,000 square feet of floor space here for possible opening of dress factory to employ between 300 and 400 people; Sam Werber, president of Dorsa Dresses Inc., of St. Louis, which also operates as Jackson Manufacturing Co. in Jackson, hopes to expand his manufacturing operations if suitable space can be found.

75 years ago: Feb. 28, 1928

More than 200 people, most of them Southeast Missouri farmers and agricultural students, attend first day of Farmers Week at Teachers College; they hear discussions of proper methods of handling poultry by specialists whose work in this district has attracted particular attention.

David Jackson, janitor, is seriously burned about face and arms in fire which guts basement of Cahoon Building on Broadway; he is saved from burning to death by several men, whose names aren't learned, who, attracted by Jackson's screams, rush into basement and rescue him.

-- Sharon K. Sanders