Out of the past 7/7/06

25 years ago: July 7, 1981

About 40 contractors interested in submitting bids for the $3.9 million addition to Magill Hall of Science on the Southeast Missouri State University campus meet for an informal briefing about the project with university officials.

The proposed construction of a new $3.6 million wastewater treatment plant is a step closer to being realized as the result of action last night by the Jackson Board of Aldermen; the board approved a recommendation from consulting engineers to submit an application for federal and state grants to help finance construction of the new plant.

50 years ago: July 7, 1956

During construction of the new flood-control sewer, the Amy Kimmel hawthorn in the Main Street parkway at Merriwether Street was ruined; the east half of the tree was cut or torn away as if by some giant knife blade; the hawthorn was planted on Arbor Day in 1923 by the Wednesday Club, honoring the late Miss Kimmel, who was instrumental in founding the club.

CAIRO, Ill. -- According to The Cairo Citizen newspaper, a group of Southern Illinois residents are interested in the possibility of locating a horse racetrack near Cairo.

75 years ago: July 7, 1931

Salaries of five elective county officials are put on a lower schedule with a $2,500 per year cut being imposed on Prosecuting Attorney S.P. Dalton and lesser reductions on the others; the county court also cuts the pay of County Clerk Edwin Kies, Circuit Clerk Charles Macke, Common Pleas Court Clerk Ruby Wolters and County Superintendent of Schools O.C. Kiehne.

Determined to halt speeding and reckless driving in Cape Girardeau, Police Judge G.W. Schack has resorted to a plan of depriving drivers of the right to operate a motor car within the city when habitual violations occur.

100 years ago: July 7, 1906

The new gasoline runabout which Joe Wilson recently purchased arrives in the morning on the boat from St. Louis; a salesmen for the Maxwell automobiles, C.P. Harrington, comes along to demonstrate the vehicle's fine points to anyone interested.

No Confederate veterans answered the call to gather at the Common Pleas Courthouse steps last evening in order to form a society to perpetuate the memory of the late unpleasantness.

-- Sharon K. Sanders