Out of the past 5/23/11

25 years ago: May 23, 1986

BENTON, Mo. -- A recurring plumbing problem in the Scott County Courthouse may force the public defender's office to move or close and could lead to legal action against the county, says public defender Nancy Hentig Narrow.

Planning for Sunday's Hands Across America is almost complete, says local coordinator Tom French; French says the line through Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois will be very full.

50 years ago: May 23, 1961

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Charleston is bulging with official visitors and cotton growers as Orville L. Freeman, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, speaks to the Missouri Cotton Producers Association about the future of agriculture.

At a meeting between Cape Girardeau city officers and officials with the Missouri Water Pollution board at Jefferson City, Mo., the state board categorically rejects the lagoon method for treating the city's raw sewage; there has been support among residents for that system.

75 years ago: May 23, 1936

Bids for the paving of Highway 25 from Jackson north to the Apple Creek bridge at the Perry County line, a distance of 16.3 miles, with concrete 20 feet wide will be received by the State Highway Commission at Jefferson City in June.

Although solicitation for funds will continue next week, plans go forward for reorganization of the Capahas for Sunday baseball, with the first game set for May 31; several matters remain to be settled, including picking a governing board, players' pay and where games will be played.

100 years ago: May 23, 1911

A serious wreck, with one man killed and two injured and nearly an entire train of valuable freight wrecked and burned, ties up traffic on the Frisco railroad at McBride, Mo., a small station in Perry County; part of the long trestle, just south of McBride, gives way under the engine, allowing 17 cars following it to plunge through the wrecked bridge, piling up a fearful mass of equipment, meat, groceries and other merchandise.

Esther and Mary Foley, daughters of Mrs. Mary Foley of South Spanish Street, arrived home yesterday, having spent the winter in California; they spent most of the time in Los Angeles, but visited all the larger towns on the coast.

-- Sharon K. Sanders