Out of the past 6/16/05

25 years ago: June 16, 1980

Cape Girardeau County Court threatens to declare a quarantine in the county if pet owners don't have their animals immunized against rabies.

Chief deputy sheriff Eugene A. Coombs is sworn as the new Cape Girardeau County interim sheriff; because Coombs will only be serving in that post six months, no one will be appointed to fill the chief deputy slot.

50 years ago: June 16, 1955

Evacuees -- the well, ill and injured -- pour into Cape Girardeau; every school gymnasium, public building, and hospital is jammed and still the flood continues with another 4,000 more evacuees due by train from St. Louis, Mo., later in the afternoon as part of "Operation Alert 1955," the nationwide test of Civil Defense organizations.

Don Abla, 18, student council president first semester and Central High School athlete, dies at Wynne, Ark., where he and his mother had moved in December after an illness which began the year before became more pronounced; he was the son of Mr. and Mrs. M.B. Abla; members of the Central football team will serve as pallbearers.

75 years ago: June 16, 1930

LUTESVILLE, Mo. -- Fire of undetermined origin, which started in the rear of the plant, destroyed a three-story building housing the equipment of the Lutesville Milling Co. at 1:30 a.m. yesterday, with a loss of about $25,000.

The city council decides to investigate storm water conditions at Independence and Pacific streets to determine the best way to correct the overflow conditions at this point during heavy rains; three judgments have already been secured against the city because of this situation in action brought by Judge Frank Kelly, a resident of the neighborhood.

100 years ago: June 16, 1905

Architect L.B. Blackwood has prepared plans for a club house to be built at the fairgrounds for the Cape Girardeau Fair Association; the large, two-story building will have a wide porch around three sides; on the first floor will be the auditorium and dance hall, the buffet, dining room and kitchen.

J.C. Stone reports the sale of two pieces of valuable residence properties this week; the W.H. Haupt property on North Pacific was sold to R.S. Douglas of Malden, Mo., for $3,500; the property recently tenanted by the Rev. R.S. Brown was sold to Mrs. Sophie E. Stevens of Bloomfield, Mo., for about $3,800.

-- Sharon K. Sanders