Out of the past 4/12/09

25 years ago: April 12, 1984

High school students take over the reins of Cape Girardeau's government as they participate in Youth City Government Day, sponsored by the three Cape Girardeau Optimist clubs and the city; 24 students take part in the exercise.

The Humane Society of Southeast Missouri is burglarized in the evening, and about $500 is taken; none of the animals at the shelter are taken or harmed.

50 years ago: April 12, 1959

For the second consecutive week, a large number of telephones in the Delta area are put out of commission by shotgun blasts through cables; 180 telephones are knocked out of use by six shots through cables in two places.

A charter from the National Council, Boy Scouts of America, is presented to a new troop under sponsorship of the Church of the Nazarene in evening services at the church; there are 17 boys in the troop; the scoutmaster is John W. Seabaugh.

75 years ago: April 12, 1934

Petitions asking the Cape Girardeau School Board to call a special election to resubmit the $1 school tax levy have been signed by more than 600 people; when the school levy was defeated in the spring election, the district was left without a means of raising funds sufficient to operate the schools next year.

A concrete floor is being poured for the basement of the Nazarene Church at South Park Avenue and Merriwether Street; Boren Bros., contractors, are doing the work; the new church building will be 70 feet long by 36 feet wide.

100 years ago: April 12, 1909

The Federal Trust Co. of St. Louis perfected its organization recently; W.D. Vandiver of Cape Girardeau, former insurance commissioner of Missouri, was chosen president; other officers are W.H. Garanflo of New Madrid, Mo., vice president; former congressman M.R. Smith of Farmington, Mo., and Judge Charles B. Thomas of McLeansboro, Ill., treasurer.

Crowds of people are made happy by the sound of the big whistle at the Roberts, Johnson & Rand shoe factory, when it blows for the resumption of work after a two-week shutdown.

-- Sharon K. Sanders