Out of the past 2/29/08

Today's "Out of the past" column includes items from some Leap Days in the past.

24 years ago: Feb. 29, 1984

Eric William, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Lynch of Cape Girardeau, becomes a member of the elite 29 Club, when he is born at 12:22 a.m. at Southeast Missouri Hospital.

Bernard F. Law, archbishop-elect of Boston, celebrates a farewell Mass with Catholics from parishes in Cape Girardeau and the surrounding area at St. Mary's Cathedral; he has served as bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese for the past 10 years.

52 years ago: Feb. 29, 1956

Eighteen people, members of Feb. 29 Club, enjoy a birthday party for first time in four years; one of oldest members of the club is Joseph Baumgartner, 28 N. Fountain St., who was born Feb. 29, 1884, in Ste. Genevieve, Mo.; today he observes his 17th birthday; another oldtimer in the club is William F. Noce of Cape Girardeau, who was born in 1880 in Burfordville.

72 years ago: Feb. 29, 1936

The Missourian's Feb. 29 Club numbers 40 members, an increase of nine from the 1932 version of club; the oldest member is Margaret Booth, who lives in Cape Girardeau and at Oak Ridge, and is 88.

The Mississippi River -- a combination of high water and heavy, grinding ice floes -- is on its most dangerous rampage of the winter; the rapidly rising stream, now at 22 feet, is churning and boiling with the most floating ice veteran rivermen here can recall; it is carrying with it thousands of dollars worth of valuable floating equipment torn from its moorings.

100 years ago: Feb. 29, 1908

At a meeting of the school board, a resolution is unanimously adopted to provide for a special tax levy for the purpose of providing for Cape Girardeau a high school building to cost $50,000.

Dennis Scivally, Cape Girardeau County highway engineer, returns from Jefferson City, Mo., where he attended the first meeting of highway engineers of the state; there were nearly 80 counties represented; Scivally says the great enthusiasm shown is sure to result in good roads.

-- Sharon K. Sanders