Out of the past 5/14/11

25 years ago: May 14, 1986

Although many details must be finalized, local law enforcement officials and "Hands Across America" organizers have worked out some security aspects along the Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois portion of the route; one lane of the Mississippi River bridge here will remain open to traffic, while the other lane will be reserved for hand-holding participants.

Thunderstorms douse Cape Girardeau and the rest of the region, bringing along threats of severe weather which, although it fails to materialize, puts Scott County school officials on the alert; students in several Scott County schools are sent to areas of safety within their buildings, after reports of tornado sightings in northern Scott County.

50 years ago: May 14, 1961

Two Cape Girardeau men were seriously injured yesterday when an electrical charge went through their bodies as they put a woven wire fence in front of the north bleacher seats at the Arena Park racetrack; Arvell Limbaugh was seriously burned on his arms and shoulders, and Charles A. Nelson suffered an electrical shock, but wasn't burned.

SIKESTON, Mo. -- A sudden cloudburst hits here in the afternoon, along with wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour, causing extensive damage.

75 years ago: May 14, 1936

J. Grant Frye, a Cape Girardeau attorney, announces his candidacy for attorney general on the Republican ticket.

Excavation begins for the footing of a huge concrete and steel stack at the Cape Girardeau plant of the Marquette Cement Mfg. Co.; the big smokestack, to tower to a height of 350 feet, is part of an improvement program designed to remove cement and coal dust from the atmosphere.

100 years ago: May 14, 1911

John Vandeven and Joseph Hoeller leave in the morning for St. Louis as delegates to the three-day convention of the Catholic Union of Missouri, to be held at St. Andrew's Parish.

Before a big crowd yesterday, Sikeston, Mo., athletes carried off the honors of the Sixth Annual Carnival of the Southeast Missouri High School Athletic and Oratorical Association; Charleston, Mo., which had won honors three times in the past five carnivals, came in second.

-- Sharon K. Sanders