Out of the past 3/24/06

25 years ago: March 24, 1981

Junkyard owners along the Old Bend Road north of Cape Girardeau may be operating illegally and could face prosecution, says Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr.; Limbaugh says state law calls for such junkyards to be screened from the road.

Dorothy Leil, assistant professor of earth sciences at Southeast Missouri State University, is elected president of the Cape Girardeau branch of the American Association of University Women as the branch meets for a dinner in celebration of the association's centennial.

50 years ago: March 24, 1956

An investigation is underway of serious vandalism recently committed at Applecreek Church and the cemetery there; the church is east of Pocahontas; guns were used to damage the building and odd-shaped grave stones.

A two-story frame house on Bloomfield Road in Cape Girardeau, occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Lynn Humes and their three children, was destroyed by fire this week; the house was the old Fred Schwepker dwelling.

75 years ago: March 24, 1931

SIKESTON, Mo. -- E.C. "Ned" Matthews, 45, vice president of the Bank of Sikeston, an extensive landowner and prominently identified with all civic progress in Scott County for 25 years, dies unexpectedly; he is survived by his wife, formerly Miss Nell Bergmann of Cape Girardeau; a son and a daughter, and two brothers.

The citywide campaign for the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce will begin tomorrow morning with a meeting at the Hotel Marquette; all workers in the fund-raising campaign are asked to be present for this final instructional meeting; canvassers will collect money from individuals and businesses, which will help reorganize the chamber.

100 years ago: March 24, 1906

Yesterday was a miserable, wintry day in Cape Girardeau; not only are the sidewalks and streets of the town nearly impassible because of the deep mud, but considerable damage was done by the sleet and ice; wires all over the city were broken by the heavy coating of ice, as were many trees.

O.D. Mitchell, who has long been with the O'Neill Lumber Co. of St. Louis, Mo., and who formerly lived in Cape Girardeau, will move his family here the first of April; then he will open a branch office here.

-- Sharon K. Sanders