Out of the past 5/3/09

25 years ago: May 3, 1984

Bowing to the request of a standing-room-only crowd of Nell Holcomb School District residents who voiced opposition to the proposed lease of a city landfill site near their school and homes, the Cape Girardeau City Council last night agreed to delay action for 30 days on leasing the 90-acre site.

Officials with Southeast Missouri Hospital announce open-heart surgery should be available there by late summer; Dr. Robert W. Ruess is Southeast's new cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon.

50 years ago: May 3, 1959

Delivering his first sermon as the new pastor of the First Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau is the Rev. W.T. Holland, formerly general superintendent of Missions of the Kansas City Baptist Association; the congregation has been without a full-time pastor since last June 1.

The annual spring rally and talent festival of the Cape Girardeau Zone of the Lutheran Walther League is held at St. Andrew Lutheran Church.

75 years ago: May 3, 1934

The Little River Drainage District mails letters to owners of $800,000 of its bonds advising that, if they will deposit their bonds with Boatmen's National Bank of St. Louis and accept the offer of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, the bank will immediately pay to the owner of each $1,000 bond $84.08; as soon as the RFC loan is completed, the bondholder will receive an additional $273 per $1,000 bond from the corporation.

By a margin of 8-to-1, Cape Girardeau voters yesterday approved an assessment of the usual tax levy of $1 on the $100 in support of the public schools.

100 years ago: May 3, 1909

Joel T. Nunn, superintendent of the Fair and Park Association, recently purchased 40 2-year-old sheep and 28 lambs; they will be delivered tomorrow and will help keep the grass clipped at the fairgrounds.

The Broadway merchants' piano contest closes, and when the votes are counted the judges award the $350 piano to the Centenary Methodist Church; it was a hotly fought competition among the schools and churches of Cape Gir­ardeau and the area.

-- Sharon K. Sanders