Out of the past 7/11/11

25 years ago: July 11, 1986

A continuing problem with trash from Cape Girardeau's landfill washing onto private property and spilling into a nearby creek has prompted the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to issue a notice of violation to the city, which calls for municipal officials to take immediate steps to correct the problem.

Sides Construction of Cape Girardeau, with a bid of $477,500, is the apparent low bidder on the Trail of Tears State Park Visitor Center project.

50 years ago: July 11, 1961

Cape Girardeau voters approved a $1,598,000 bond issue to finance construction of a sewage treatment plant and to lay lines to intercept sewage before it enters the Mississippi River.

EAST PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Seven flat cars of the Cotton Belt Railroad loaded with 18 cotton-picking machines belonging to local farmers and valued at more than $270,000 have made the trip from East Prairie to Raymondsville, Texas, in the heart of the Rio Grande Valley; there, the machines will be used in custom cotton picking for large farms.

75 years ago: July 11, 1936

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Duane Deen, 14-year-old Mr. and Mrs. Charles Deen and a member of Boy Scouts Troop 51 of Chaffee, is notified of an award of meritorious service in Scouting by the National Council of Boy Scouts of America; the award is for saving the life of Billie Jean Buckley, 14, whom he pulled from the Little River Diversion Channel near Allenville in 1935.

Members of the Cape Girardeau school board move to prepare for construction of a new grammar school at the old Lorimier site on Independence following a conference with William B. Ittner of the Ittner architectural firm; they are awaiting word on a Public Works Administration grant application.

100 years ago: July 11, 1911

Cape Girardeau's board of health recently sent a sample of city water to a chemist for analysis; the report shows that, while there are no noticeable typhoid germs, it is full of other germs that threaten the health of the community.

The six big paradise trees along the front of the Clifton place on West Broadway are being removed, as they have lost their usefulness and beauty; the trees are about 60 years old, and have become rotted and hollow.

-- Sharon K. Sanders