Out of the past 2/5/06

25 years ago: Feb. 5, 1981

The city council appeared receptive last night to a contingency plan presented by the head of the Southeast Missouri Regional Crime Laboratory whereby the city would increase the subsidy it contributes annually to the lab; but councilmen told Dr. Robert C. Briner they won't consider approval of the increase until more definite word is received on whether the state will substantially cut its appropriation to the crime lab.

Jackson Mayor Carlton Meyer has filed for a fifth term, bringing to 10 the total number of filings for city offices; Meyer has served three terms as Ward 2 alderman during the 1950s and again from 1971 to 1973 before running successfully for mayor.

50 years ago: Feb. 5, 1956

Like Paul Revere without his horse, the committee planning Cape Girardeau's sesquicentennial celebration is stymied because it has no slogan on which to tie the observance.

During the evening service at First Baptist Church, the new church library is dedicated; Graham H. Sadler leads the dedication ceremony and is assisted by Margaret Jane Boyer of Kansas City, Mo., state library supervisor, who has been in Cape Girardeau this week teaching a course in library methods.

75 years ago: Feb. 5, 1931

Elective officials met with the county court yesterday to discuss means of reducing the expenditures of the county; Judge Charles G. Wilson opened the discussion by explaining that the county is in the red more than $50,000.

School superintendent John A. Whitford of the Cape Girardeau public schools is vigorously supported by Girardeans prominent in the fields of religion and education for his stand in the statewide controversy over an address made by Dr. Harry E. Barnes at the state meeting of teachers in November.

100 years ago: Feb. 5, 1906

August Shivelbine, one of the best residents Cape Girardeau ever had, died yesterday after an illness of several weeks; he was 52 years old; Shivelbine was a native of Cape Girardeau; after going through the schools here, his father sent him to Germany to study engineering; he returned two years later and went to California, where he operated engines in the mines; after returning to Cape Girardeau, he ran flour mills for a time.

J.T. Stratmann returned yesterday from a business trip through several counties in the interest of the Glenn Mercantile Co.

-- Sharon K. Sanders