Out of the past 6/24/12

25 years ago: June 24, 1987

Saint Francis Medical Center's mental health inpatient unit will close at the end of the month; the unit began phasing out its operation June 16.

An examination of bids for the construction of an 1,800-foot slackwater harbor -- the heart of the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority operation near Scott City -- shows they are within the amount projected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; apparent low bidder is Luhr Brothers of Columbia, Ill., with a figure of $2,916,940.

50 years ago: June 24, 1962

Douglas Wayne Thompson, convicted slayer of two men, including a Cape Girardeau police officer, teams up with a Perry County convict to lead an abortive attempt to escape death row in the state penitentiary at Kansas City; the escape plot also includes Sammy Tucker, Thompson's partner in the 1961 shoot out in Cape Girardeau.

Southeast Missouri National Guardsmen, along with all others of the 35th Division, left Friday for Camp Ripley, Minn., and their annual two-week summer training; for the first time in several years, the troops traveled by train instead of by Army truck convoy.

75 years ago: June 24, 1937

The Cape Girardeau City Council won't let trailer-residing families live in Fairground Park; the matter came up at yesterday's council meeting, when the city fathers turned down the request of those applying for the right to stop in the park with a trailer; in the past, temporary permits had been granted.

A planned sit-down strike by about 50 apple pickers at the Ochs Pioneer Orchard on Bloomfield Road yesterday faded out quickly, and most are back on the job today; workers were hoping to increase their pay scale of 10 cents per hour.

100 years ago: June 24, 1912

A committee appointed by the Cape Girardeau and Jackson commercial clubs is collecting names of Cape Girardeau County people living in St. Louis; the clubs hope to establish a Cape Girardeau County society in St. Louis.

The wheat harvest is in full blast in this county; the yield is expected to be below average for a variety of reasons, including damage done by the Hessian fly, severe frosts and cool, wet weather.

-- Sharon K. Sanders