Out of the past 4/5/09

25 years ago: April 5, 1984

A $3.2 million item to begin construction of a multipurpose building in Cape Girardeau is included in a $179 million capital improvements package approved today by the House Budget Committee headed by state Rep. Marvin E. Proffer of Jackson.

The Southeast Missouri Regional Crime Laboratory in Cape Girardeau and four other regional labs will receive their fourth-quarter funding; because of budget constraints, there had been some question as to whether the money, which amounts to $11,500 for the lab here, would be released.

50 years ago: April 5, 1959

Championship speller James Haw of Charleston, Mo., eighth-grade pupil at St. Henry's Catholic School, won first place in the seventh annual Missourian Spelling Bee yesterday, and Dixie Glastetter of Chaffee, eighth-grader at St. Ambrose Catholic School, was runner-up.

Heightened by a proposal to merge the local library with the Riverside Regional Library, plus some contests for local town officers, a heavy vote is expected to be cast in the Jackson election Tuesday.

75 years ago: April 5, 1934

Nat M. Snider receives his commission from President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the new postmaster in Cape Girardeau and will take charge of the post office tomorrow; he will succeed H.H. Haas, who has held the post since Oct. 1, 1921.

Louis Muegge will succeed Olaf E. Robinson as coach of athletics at Central High School during the coming school year; the board, in session last night, selected Muegge, who formerly coached here for three years.

100 years ago: April 5, 1909

The Frisco Railroad is unloading four car loads of silica on Water Street in front of the passenger station, which the city will use in fixing the street at that place; this is a good move, as the approaches to the station in rainy weather are deep with mud.

The short term for teachers begins at the Normal School, and teachers from all over the district are in attendance; the term will last nine weeks; the teachers' course is separate from the regular school work and is arranged to meet the requirements of teachers who desire to gain credit on their standing as county teachers.

-- Sharon K. Sanders