Out of the past 4/11/10

25 years ago: April 11, 1985

ST. LOUIS -- An attorney for George Staples of Charleston, Mo., the developer of the ill-fated Westborough Mall in Cape Girardeau, asks a federal appeals court to grant his client a new trial in his $20 million lawsuit against the city of Cape Girardeau and West Park Mall developers.

The executive committee of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce decides the group will intervene in the multipurpose building lawsuit to seek a clarification of the status of city funds for the Convention and Tourism Bureau.

50 years ago: April 11, 1960

Missouri Gov. James T. Blair flew into the Cape Girardeau Sunday morning to participate in the installation of the local chapter of the Sigma Chi fraternity at State College.

William Starkey, an eighth-grade pupil from Mound City, Ill., won the eighth annual spelling bee sponsored by The Missourian over the weekend by spelling correctly the word "heifer."

75 years ago: April 11, 1935

Cape Girardeau and district are again shrouded in the dingy pall of western plains dust; the appearance of the dust is in contrast to local atmospheric conditions, damp, cool weather with showers having prevailed during the past two weeks; visibility is reduced to a few city blocks, and Girardeans experience a sort of choking sensation in breathing.

Work has been started on the removing of stucco on the exterior of the Brinkopf-Howell Funeral Home, 536 Broadway, which has been on the building since it was remodeled in 1923 and which will be replaced with cement; the building is more than 80 years old.

100 years ago: April 11, 1910

The board of equalization, which has just completed its session for the year, has made an increase of the real estate values of Cape Girardeau County of about $16,000 over the assessment lists as turned in; this increase is only for the county outside of the towns, the increase of which will be reported later.

The Cape Girardeau County Court lets the contract for building the new jail to Wallace Bros. of Jackson on a bid of $12,000.

-- Sharon K. Sanders