Out of the past 3/18/06

25 years ago: March 18, 1981

The city of Cape Girardeau recently forgot not to pay a bill; as a result, the city forwarded a payment of approximately $45,000 to the consulting firm that designed the city's secondary sewage treatment plant, a payment the city council disputed earlier this month and decided not to pay.

Members of the Cape Girardeau Lions Club are out in force early today to prepare breakfast for pancake-hungry residents at the organization's 43rd Pancake Day; club members give out just under 4,000 servings of flapjacks and 2,700 servings of sausage.

50 years ago: March 18, 1956

Ground is broken for Southeast Missouri Hospital's large annex; turning the first spades of earth are George A. Naeter and Dr. M.H. Shelby.

The resignation of Dr. W.W. Parker as president of State College was accepted yesterday and procedures to be used in selecting a successor were discussed by the board of regents; members discussed several men who have applied for the position, but a decision won't be made until a later date.

75 years ago: March 18, 1931

The first 10 cases involving condemnation proceedings to secure flowage rights over 150,000 acres of land in Mississippi and New Madrid counties in connection with the federal government's $325,000,000 Mississippi River flood-control project were filed in federal court in Cape Girardeau yesterday; it is expected that approximately 640 more suits will be entered, unless hereafter several parcels of the affected land are grouped under one case.

Thomas J. Clark, 77, last surviving member of the pioneer Clark family of Cape Girardeau, dies of infirmities of age at the family home, 322 N. Frederick St.; Clark was a native of Cape Girardeau, the son of the first Baptist minister in this city.

100 years ago: March 18, 1906

August Tunze, an aged citizen of the lower part of Cape Girardeau County, was instantly killed yesterday on the Iron Mountain Railroad near Dutchtown; he was walking across a trestle and was about to step from the end to the side of the track, when the train hit him.

The Rev. Edmund Duckworth of St. Louis, who was scheduled to preach today at Christ Episcopal Church, misses the morning train because of a hard snow in St. Louis, which prevented the streetcars from running.

-- Sharon K. Sanders