Out of the past 6/1/14

1989

It doesn't take long for former Cape Girardeau police chief Ray Johnson and his staff to be indoctrinated as keepers of the peace in Chesterfield, Missouri; about two hours after taking over the responsibility from St. Louis County Police, the Chesterfield department receives its first complaint.

Painting murals in Cape Girardeau is becoming a habit; a new one was just added to the C.P. McGinty building; in addition, Wayne Griffin, owner of Griffin's Cafe, 118 Themis St., says he is planning to have a mural painted on a wall that separates his property from a parking lot.

1964

Al Hoskin, field service agent for the Missouri Conservation Commission, says the clear and relatively shallow water sloping out from the two islands in the center of Capaha Park lagoon is the cause of the rapid growth of algae that covers a large part of the pond's surface; before the recent renovation of the pond, bottom-feeding fish kept the water murky, preventing the algae from growing.

Commercial fishermen Rudy Keifer and Grady Robertson landed a 100-pound alligator gar this weekend; they caught the fish in a trammel net at the mouth of a chute on Marquette Island, south of the traffic bridge.

1939

It is announced that the Cape County Wildlife Federation will receive donations to a reward fund with which to assist in a widespread investigation of the dynamiting of fish in the diversion channel west of Whitewater, resulting in a large fish kill.

Looking back over five months of 1939, Cape Girardeau sees a new home-building record in prospect; 61 new dwellings have been placed under construction since Jan. 1; only 35 more homes are needed to equal last year's program.

1914

Major Giboney Houck argues a demurer in Common Pleas Court to the effect that the fairground association shouldn't be permitted by the court to dissolve its organization and sell the land; Sen. T.F. Lane, attorney for the association, had filed a petition some time ago asking the court to order the dissolution and the sale of the 40-acre grounds to the city or to other persons, if the city didn't want the land.

The first concrete silo to be built in Cape Girardeau County has been erected near Oak Ridge.

-- Sharon K. Sanders