Out of the past 4/28/09

25 years ago: April 28, 1984

Cape Girardeau's proposed downtown redevelopment plan is meeting with enthusiasm from Main Street merchants who view it as a way to revitalize the downtown business district.

Cape Girardeau police chief Ray Johnson has announced the promotion of two officers and the reassignment of another; Stephen C. Strong is being promoted from detective sergeant to lieutenant and will serve as patrol division commander, Carl Kinnison is being promoted from patrolman to sergeant and will serve as officer in charge of crime prevention/crime analysis, and Lt. Robert F. Ross, a 23-year veteran of the force, will be transferred to the patrol division.

50 years ago: April 28, 1959

High winds lash Southeast Missouri in the morning, causing extensive damage, most of which is registered at Sikeston and Dexter; at Sikeston, 18 business buildings are damaged, and it is estimated one of every four dwellings in town sustain at least some damage.

A 17-year-old Herrin, Ill., girl, who was abducted from the front porch of her home last night by an armed youth and forced to drive on a wild trip through Southern Illinois, comes to Cape Girardeau to view youths picked up by police for questioning; she is unable to identify them.

75 years ago: April 28, 1934

Gylde Garner, 19, a student of the high school at Poplar Bluff, Mo., is injured when he is struck by a discus at the high school meet at Houck Field House.

Four guards from the Southern Illinois prison at Chester are in Cape Girardeau searching for an escaped kidnapper who fled from the penitentiary yesterday.

100 years ago: April 28, 1909

A.E. Koerner, formerly brewmaster at the Cape Girardeau brewery and one of the most popular young men who ever came here, drops in to spend a short time with friends; he is now traveling for a corn products concern, and his territory covers all of North America.

The managers of the new canning factory at Oak Ridge had some bad luck recently; they had the building's frame up and partly boxed, but the high wind Sunday blew it down.

-- Sharon K. Sanders