Out of the past 4/25/09

25 years ago: April 25, 1984

A faulty underground electric cable in the vicinity of West Park Mall is being blamed for last night's power failure, which affected several hundred residential and commercial customers on Cape Girardeau's west side and part of the surrounding area along Route K, including Gordonville.

Following a public hearing attended by only one resident, the Downtown Special Business District Advisory Commission votes to recommend to the city council that the estimated $11,496 in special tax revenue in the 1984-1985 fiscal year be earmarked to help pay the salary of a downtown redevelopment project coordinator.

50 years ago: April 25, 1959

Dr. Albert J. Rasche, 55, a leader in many community and professional endeavors, and the principal advocate of fluoridation for Cape Girardeau's water supply, dies at his home; Rasche was a dentist in Cape Girardeau for 29 years.

Thomas S. Messer, professor of the Baptist Chair of Bible at State College, has been granted a sabbatical leave for the summer months so that he may pursue postgraduate studies in philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

75 years ago: April 25, 1934

Judge I.R. Kelso of Cape Girardeau has severed his connection with the Community Power & Light Co. of St. Louis and its subsidiary companies, including Missouri Utilities Co.; Kelso disagreed with the company's decision to move its management from St. Louis to New York City.

Gov. Guy B. Park has accepted an invitation to address the three service clubs of Cape Girardeau next Tuesday; he will speak on the proposed bond issue, which would rebuild the penal and eleemosynary institutions.

100 years ago: April 25, 1909

The Rev. August Bueltemann of De Soto, Mo., occupies the pulpit of the German Methodist Episcopal Church in Cape Girardeau, both in the morning and in the evening.

No services are held in the morning at Trinity Lutheran Church, as the pastor, the Rev. A. Wilder, is installing the Rev. George Kirschke as pastor of the Hanover church; Kirschke comes from the Lutheran Home Mission in Southwestern Arkansas.

-- Sharon K. Sanders