Out of the past 6/17/07

25 years ago: June 17, 1982

Pickets from Laborers Local 282 and Cement Masons Local 908 stand near the entrance to a 120-bed nursing home being built on Independence Street in Cape Girardeau; the laborers are picketing the site because Local 282 has no contract with the general contractor; the masons are picketing a subcontractor for substandard wages.

Authorities investigating a fire which severely damaged the North American Van Lines office in Cape Girardeau believe the blaze was set by a burglar.

50 years ago: June 17, 1957

Dr. Mark F. Scully, president of State College, says a request has been forwarded to Gov. James T. Blair Jr. to release the remaining portion of state bond issue funds so bids for construction of three campus structures may be solicited in August; the college is still due $2,680,000.

Application for a $25,000 loan to prepare plans for a sewage disposal plant and appurtenant facilities is made by the Cape Girardeau City Council through passage of a resolution authorizing Mayor Walter H. Ford to enter into the transaction.

75 years ago: June 17, 1932

Paving of a nine-mile stretch of Illinois Highway 150 north of Ware, Ill., to form a connection with the Cape Girardeau traffic bridge was started yesterday.

Dizzy Dean, who is on a payless vacation as a hurler for the St. Louis Cardinals, may be asked to pitch in Cape Girardeau on Sunday; manager William Sullivan is hoping to secure Dean to hurl for the Charleston, Mo., team when it plays the Capahas; Dean and the Cardinals are having a dispute over money the pitcher says he is owed by the club.

100 years ago: June 17, 1907

At a recent meeting held in Pocahontas it was all but decided to start building a telephone system, which will connect six towns in the northern part of the county: Pocahontas, Shawneetown, New Wells, Neely's Landing, Fruitland and Appleton.

H.L. Nunn, who will be the superintendent of the shoe factory being built in Cape Girardeau, spent the day here Saturday; he was disappointed to find there were no vacant houses available for the people he will bring here to help staff the plant.

-- Sharon K. Sanders