Out of the past 7/1/07

25 years ago: July 1, 1982

Presiding Circuit Judge A.J. Seier announces he will convene a grand jury July 7 to investigate the killings of two Cape Girardeau women in their homes recently; Seier notes, however, that the jury will also be free to investigate other crimes occurring in the county.

Cape Girardeau Civic Center Inc., which has operated in cramped, makeshift quarters since its founding in 1959, soon will have a spacious new home; board members announce they have exercised an option to buy the property at 232 Broadway.

50 years ago: July 1, 1957

While the rainfall in the immediate Cape Girardeau area amounted to only 1.2 inches, the rest of Southeast Missouri from the Lead Belt to the Bootheel was lashed with rain and high winds Saturday night; rainfall of from 5 to 6 inches was common.

An unidentified airplane, apparently damaged during takeoff, is found in the morning on the Hobson Bess farm on Highway 61, 8 miles north of Jackson; the pilot of the plane isn't at the scene.

75 years ago: July 1, 1932

After 26 years in the postal service at Cape Girardeau, John H. Bremerman retires as a clerk; two other clerks, who have aided Bremerman at the window, Burrett Stout and Louis Roth, are temporarily taking care of that work until a successor is named.

A petition opposing the proposed establishment of a sewer district in Cape Girardeau's West End and the construction of a sanitary sewer is being circulated among property owners in the limits of the proposed district; 40 property owners have signed a rival petition asking for the district and sewer.

100 years ago: July 1, 1907

Prosecuting Attorney Harry Alexander says it is unlawful for the Cape Girardeau and Jackson Gravel Road Co. to collect tolls, and he advises people to refuse to pay; recently, the Supreme Court confirmed the judgment of the lower court ordering tollgates torn down; Alexander declares, "The toll road business between Cape Girardeau and Jackson is at an end."

Plans for a new, spacious car repair shop have been received by F.F. Lincoln, freight cashier of the Frisco Railroad, and contracts for the new facility will likely be awarded soon.

-- Sharon K. Sanders