Out of the past 6/17/12

25 years ago: June 17, 1987

For the second day in a row, an intense electrical thunderstorm with hail and heavy rain strikes parts of Cape Girardeau County, causing additional property damage; fire caused by lighting destroys a barn along Route K, west of Cape Girardeau; two houses in Jackson and one in Cape Girardeau are struck by lightning.

The Airport Advisory Board has asked city officials to explore the feasibility of the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority taking over operation of the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport.

50 years ago: June 17, 1962

Wilver Wessel of St. Andrew Lutheran Church here and the Rev. Harold Belsheim of Sikeston, Mo., will represent the Cape Girardeau Circuit at a convention of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod from June 20 to 30 in Cleveland.

Cape Girardean Calvin C. Vogelsang, 36, is elected commander of the Missouri Department of Veterans of Foreign Wars at Jefferson City; he is the youngest man ever to be state commander.

75 years ago: June 17, 1937

Authorization to obtain a $112,000 loan from the Rural Electrification Administration for the purpose of extending its electric lines in the rural areas of Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Stoddard, Perry and Ste. Genevieve counties is granted by the Public Service Commission of Missouri to the Missouri General Utilities Co.; in Cape Girardeau County, it provides for the extension of service into Oak Ridge, Pocahontas and Whitewater.

According to records of the county relief office, there are about 260 more Cape Girardeau County families on relief at present than a year ago.

100 years ago: June 17, 1912

At one of the most enthusiastic mass meetings ever held in Cape Girardeau County, it was determined Saturday to put the county in the front ranks of agricultural communities; by action of this meeting of farmers and business men, and by the order of the county court, Cape Girardeau County will have the first agricultural experiment station ever organized as a county institution.

The restaurant conducted by A. Ruch and Dukes Miles' barbershop are destroyed by fire about 1 a.m., the fire having originated in the restaurant.

-- Sharon K. Sanders