Out of the past 7/18/06

25 years ago: July 18, 1981

Gayle Hendrix of Cape Girardeau stages a protest to Southwestern Bell Telephone Co.'s proposed rate increase, standing on Main Street and passing out fliers that express her opposition; if approved, the rate increase would send the basic charge for a single-party home phone here up by 73 percent and add 52 percent to a single-party business bill.

An 1854 log cabin, which Southeast Missouri State University officials describe as "priceless," has been donated to the university by Mr. and Mrs. Handy Moore of Sikeston, Mo.

50 years ago: July 18, 1956

Gov. Phil M. Donnelly has appointed Herschel Bess, Poplar Bluff, Mo., Republican, to the board of regents for Southeast Missouri State College at Cape Girardeau; Bess, 52, is president of the Bank of Caruthersville, chairman of the board of the State Bank of Puxico and a board member of several other banks.

R.O. Browning of the Cape County Abstract & Title Co. and Harry Culp of Abstract Title Guarantee Corp., meet with the county court to discuss securing abstracts and titles to property in the Trail of Tears State Park area.

75 years ago: July 18, 1931

Swooping down on two places, one in Cape Girardeau and the other on the Bend Road at the north edge of the city, county officials and city police late yesterday seized 581 quarts of home-brew beer and a small quantity of whisky, all evidently for sale over the weekend; 400 filled quart bottles of beer were found at a residence on Morgan Oak Street.

A remonstrance signed by three property owners on Merriwether Street, the paving of which has been proposed, has been presented to the Cape Girardeau City Council; the block in question is that between Sprigg Street and Ellis Street.

100 years ago: July 18, 1906

Joe Russell, Democratic candidate for Congress from this district, announced at the Commercial Club meeting last night that William J. Bryan will visit Cape Girardeau sometime this fall; it is hoped Bryan will speak here during Cape Girardeau's centennial celebration in October.

Fred Kain, the transfer man, has established a hack service between the encampment grounds south of Cape Girardeau and the corner of Good Hope and Sprigg streets, where the streetcars unload passengers for the encampment; it is quite a long walk to the camp grounds, and to accommodate the crowds, Kain makes the trip down for only 5 cents.

-- Sharon K. Sanders