Out of the past 5/6/08

25 years ago: May 6, 1983

With the Mississippi River expected to crest at Cape Girardeau later today at 45.3 feet, the situation has stabilized in the flood ravaged areas of the county; but rain, possibly heavy, is forecast for tomorrow and could make things worse.

The formation of a major case squad, representative of various law enforcement agencies in Cape Girardeau County, will be formally announced next week; the squad would be activated to help in any major investigation.

50 years ago: May 6, 1958

Another familiar sight to local residents — the smoke that has risen for some 40 years from the chimney on the Rigdon Laundry building — is gone; the old, hand-fired coal boiler, which has been in use since around 1917, has been replaced by a modern gas boiler as part of a remodeling program by owner Bill W. Tipton.

Following a trip that took him around the world, Raymond Childs, a native of Cape Girardeau, arrives for a two-week visit with relatives here and at Poplar Bluff, Mo.; he is visiting his brother, Walker Childs, and sister, Leona Childs, here, and a daughter, Mrs. Harold Locke Jr., at Poplar Bluff.

75 years ago: May 6, 1933

Five members of the family of Herman W. Lueddecke, superintendent of schools at Advance, Mo., are injured, three of them seriously, in an automobile accident at Pacific and Independence streets; the driver of the other car isn't hurt.

Among Southeast Missourians to win in the early events at the state high school track meet at Columbia, Mo., is Gene McDonald of Teachers College High School, who takes first-place honors in Class C, 120-yard high hurdles; in the same event, Waldo Bess of the College High takes third place.

100 years ago: May 6, 1908

While the vote on the school proposition was light yesterday, it was carried favorably by a vote of 302 to 120; the proposition, as few voters knew, was to levy a tax of 20 cents above the legal 40 cents provided by the statutes on the $100 assessed valuation.

Yesterday, Miss E.B. Wales of Jefferson City, secretary of the state library commission, which was provided for at the last legislative session, visited the Normal School to investigate the library and conditions generally.

— Sharon K. Sanders