Out of the past 4/3/12

25 years ago: April 3, 1987

The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce will spearhead a campaign to promote passage of a proposed half-cent city transportation sales tax slated to be on the August election ballot.

The Cape Girardeau School Board has asked for more information concerning the possibility of eliminating one administrative position at Central High School; the suggestion is one on a long list of possible budget cuts the board is considering in efforts to trim its deficit spending.

50 years ago: April 3, 1962

The SEMO Farmers Grain Co. has purchased the Delta Grain Co. at Delta for $40,000; the newly acquired grain elevator is added to four others operated by the SEMO firm.

As junior scientists set up their exhibits for the sixth annual Southeast Missouri Regional Science Fair in Houck Field House, a team of college workers assemble a one-third size model of the Mercury space capsule that sent Col. John Glenn into orbit; it is the center of attention among the entrants.

75 years ago: April 3, 1937

A downtown business block is seriously threatened when fire breaks out in the second floor of the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 1 S. Main St.; firefighters quickly check the blaze, but not before an estimated $15,000 in damage is done.

Word is received of the death Thursday at St. Paul, Mo., of the Rev. Edward J. Kern, 72, for 28 years pastor of the Catholic church there; he formerly was pastor of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Jackson, serving for 20 years near the end of the 19th century.

100 years ago: April 3, 1912

Winners in yesterday's city council election were Joe T. Wilson, W.H. Coerver, C.B. Hoeller and Thomas J. Gill; in the school election, Harry W. Bridges and Edward Willer were chosen members of the school board.

Men continue to wage war against the rising waters of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers; the threatened break in the East Cape Girardeau, Ill., levee was averted by prompt work yesterday, when farmers came here and secured 400 sandbags from the Frisco Railroad; at Cairo, Ill., the mayor has suspended business to allow every man in town to give his time and energy toward protecting the levees.

-- Sharon K. Sanders