Out of the past 8/16/05

25 years ago: Aug. 16, 1980

A payment of nearly $70,000 received by the city Friday in compensation for Cape Girardeau's ill-fated disaster warning system was delinquent, according to the city attorney, exposing the bank which sent the payment to further liability; the payment was in response to a draft submitted on Aug. 8 by the city against a letter of credit between the siren system contractor, Alert Systems Inc. of Paducah, Ky., and the city.

BENTON, Mo. -- Scott County Court Judge Eldon Ziegenhorn of Sikeston, Mo., defends the court's funding of the North Scott County Ambulance Service at Chaffee, Mo., saying the service is overspending; the ambulance service director has accused the court of failing to appropriate sales tax revenue to the service.

50 years ago: Aug. 16, 1955

The Rev. William Wittrock, 81, who had served in the ministry for 56 years and had been pastor of Hanover Lutheran Church for nearly 27 years, died yesterday; he is survived by his second wife, the former Anna Keseman; four daughters, two sons, a brother and two sisters.

A drizzle of rain and the threat of heavier showers keep voters away from the polls for the swimming pool bond issue election in the morning.

75 years ago: Aug. 16, 1930

Professor A.C. Magill of Teachers College says his department has received and tested an average of 12 to 15 samples of drinking water daily since the last week of July; the samples come from a wide area, including the counties of Wayne, Scott, New Madrid, Stoddard and Bollinger; approximately one-third of the water samples are found to contain typhoid germs.

Another shower in Cape Girardeau in the morning cuts into the effectiveness of the drought, which until a week ago held an unrelenting grip on the entire district; other sections of the state also received rain, Poplar Bluff reporting a heavy downpour and Bloomfield a shower which lasted two hours.

100 years ago: Aug. 16, 1905

The steamer City of Saltillo comes up to Cape Girardeau at noon, loaded to the top with peanuts and lumber; it has a considerable amount of wheat as well; the biggest bunch of feminine excursionists ever up the Tennessee at one time is aboard.

The largest amount of freight dumped at this point by a boat this year is taken off the steamer Ferd Harold in the evening; the freight consists of tobacco and box supplies for the Roth Tobacco Co., and was shipped from Louisville, Ky.

-- Sharon K. Sanders