Out of the past 4/4/05

25 years ago: April 4, 1980

Circuit Judge Stanley A. Grimm has ordered that a grand jury be impaneled to investigate the county sheriff's office.

Ousted Circuit Judge Gerald L. Briggs has made it clear that he intends to ignore State Attorney General John D. Ashcroft's opinion that he cannot enter the race for his former post in the November election.

50 years ago: April 4, 1955

WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- Ruth Kelso Renfrow of Cape Girardeau is named Missouri Mother for 1955 by the Golden Rule Foundation; she is the wife of Brig. Gen. Louis H. Renfrow of Cape Girardeau and Washington, D.C., and the mother of Robert K. and Richard N. Renfrow, also of Cape Girardeau.

Cape Girardeau components of the National Guard -- Regimental Headquarters of the 140th Infantry, Headquarters Co. and Service Co. -- will participate in the surprise alert of members throughout the country which is expected to be called soon; the Department of Defense will test the speed with which more than 340,000 Guardsmen throughout the nation can be mobilized in the event of an enemy attack.

75 years ago: April 4, 1930

Thirty large stumps, all that is left of a row of sturdy trees, are being removed from the east side of North Louisiana Avenue, from Broadway to Bessie, providing for a wider street right of way and construction of 526 feet of sidewalk.

Cape Girardeau Board of Education was reorganized last night; Superintendent John A. Whiteford was reelected to serve his sixth year as head of the public schools; A.M. Spradling was re-elected president of the board; other officers include vice president, Mrs. C.A. Vandivort.

100 years ago: April 4, 1905

This has been one of the quietest election days ever known in Cape Girardeau; reports from the four voting places at 3 p.m. shows a little above the average vote; The Daily Republican is reliably informed that M.E. Leming of the People's Ticket is leading the balloting for mayor.

A team of horses hitched in front of the barrel house on the levee takes fright and makes a mad dash into the river, drowning after a desperate struggle in the swift current; Sam McClatchey of Egypt Mills owned the animals, which were valued at $300.

-- Sharon K. Sanders