Out of the past 8/11/06

25 years ago: Aug. 11, 1981

An anonymous tip leads Cape Girardeau police to a plot of large marijuana plants growing in the heart of the city and to the arrest of a Cape Girardeau man suspected of cultivating them; police seize 30 plants, some as tall as nine feet, from a vegetable garden behind an apartment house in the 500 block of Washington Avenue.

The Jackson Board of Education approves a 15-cent increase in lunch prices for students and a 25-cent increase for adults; the price increases are necessary because food service receipts aren't keeping pace with expenditures.

50 years ago: Aug. 11, 1956

The traffic control plan outlining city streets that will be converted temporarily into one-way thoroughfares in order to handle the heavy flood of traffic during the sesquicentennial celebration is announced by the Cape Girardeau Police Department; Broadway will be the main access for traffic coming into town from Highway 61, and Independence Street will serve as the artery leading west; the principal area affected by the plan is that lying east of Pacific to Water streets and between Morgan Oak and Bellevue streets.

The 2,000 officers and men of the 140th Infantry Regiment of the Missouri National Guard are expected to return to their homes in Southeast Missouri tomorrow; they have been training for two weeks at Camp Ripley in Minnesota.

75 years ago: Aug. 11, 1931

The name of the Sample Shoe Store, 122 N. Main St., has been changed to "The Bootery," it is announced by M. Shaltupsky, manager; the store has been in Cape Girardeau 17 years and two years ago underwent extensive remodeling, enlarging the shop and adding new features.

Leslie Davis has started construction of a brick bungalow he will build on West Broadway, near the Sunset Terrace suburb; excavation for the basement of the building is underway; Davis is employed by Auto Tire & Parts Co.

100 years ago: Aug. 11, 1906

The steamer Stacker Lee was down at 7 this morning and took about 100 wheelbarrows from the local factory to Memphis, Tenn.

Under the auspices of the Farmers' Union, a monster picnic is held at the old fairgrounds near Jackson in the afternoon; there are several prominent speakers, including Judge John A. Snider and R.W. Clothier, a professor at the Normal School; rain cuts short the picnic, but it is a big success.

-- Sharon K. Sanders