Out of the past 6/4/06

25 years ago: June 4, 1981

The Cape Girardeau Police Department may get into the polygraph business; last night, the city council gave first round approval to an ordinance that could lead to city police polygraphists administering polygraph examinations to employees of Farmers and Merchants Bank as a service requested by the bank, and making the service available to other businesses in the city.

The Cape Girardeau City Council last night approved the final reading of the long-awaited urban redevelopment ordinance, which sets down the ground rules for accomplishing redevelopment in the city.

50 years ago: June 4, 1956

Workers of the Victory Construction Co., the contractor laying sewer lines as part of the flood-control project in Cape Girardeau, are busy redigging a trench which caved in Sunday; a 40-foot extension of the 20-foot deep trench running north and south along Main Street at the foot of Merriwether Street fell in the morning about 10 and the other about 3 p.m.

Mayor Walter H. Ford, who took office on Friday as the successor to Narvol A. Randol, presides at his first city council meeting; the business agenda is light, with street matters predominating.

75 years ago: June 4, 1931

Werner Dubbs, who works at Wielpuetz Bakery on Good Hope Street, relates that he once won a 24,000-meter walking race in Switzerland, with a time of two hours, 24 minutes and 40 seconds; as far as Dubbs knows, his time has not been bested since it was set in 1918.

Fifty-seven children, ranging in age from 1 to 6 years, are examined free of charge and advice for their care given at the second annual clinic conducted by the Preschool Unit at Central High School; seven children are awarded state buttons for perfect posture, hearing, teeth, eyesight, weight and cleanliness.

100 years ago: June 4, 1906

The pupils of the eighth grade in the Normal Training School are preparing to present "The Merchant of Venice" Thursday evening; after reading the work during the past school year, the students are now dramatizing it and will present it to the public in a most attractive manner; an admission fee of 10 cents will be charged.

The heavy showers of yesterday and today have pleased the farmers and city folks alike; from all over Cape Girardeau County come reports that heavy rains soaked the ground.

-- Sharon K. Sanders