Out of the past 8/24/03

10 years ago: Aug. 24, 1993

Dispute between cable operators and area broadcasters could leave cable customers scrambling for "rabbit ears" to watch World Series and other over-the-air network programming; from Paducah, Ky., to Cape Girardeau, cable operators have threatened to drop ABC, NBC and CBS affiliate broadcast stations from their lineups rather than pay retransmission fees.

Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep says he has serious reservations about riverboat gambling operation run from harbor of Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority; he questions whether traffic created by gambling boat would blend with industrial focus of port authority.

25 years ago: Aug. 24, 1978

Tentative first-day enrollment figures in Cape Girardeau public schools show drop of 191 students from enrollment figures on first day of school last year; Dr. Arthur H. Turner, superintendent of schools, says school officials had expected drop of 125 to 150 pupils; total enrollment this morning is 4,365.

Announcement by County Clerk Rusby C. Crites that he won't be candidate for presiding judge of county court in all probability will leave Democratic party without candidate for post in November general election; many party members for months had urged clerk of nearly 20 years to seek post, particularly after Presiding Judge Ervin Hobbs, a Democrat, announced last week he wouldn't seek election to second four-year term.

50 years ago: Aug. 24, 1953

Steel beams and supports are being placed in new Jackson High School gymnasium-auditorium; work will be finished within two weeks, and building will then be ready for bricklayers.

Leonard J. Rehg, district manager for Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., estimates that supervisory personnel manning toll switchboards are handling around 70 percent of normal volume of long-distance calls; he says percentage of completed calls has risen steadily as supervisory workers become more adept at handling long-distance boards; during strike of communication workers, company is taking all calls instead of just emergency calls as in prior strike periods; 90 people are on strike in Cape Girardeau.

75 years ago: Aug. 24, 1928

Execution of federal government's plan for flood control of Mississippi River is set to begin immediately in Southeast Missouri; government will begin acquiring lands in Mississippi and New Madrid counties necessary for creation of riverbank floodway from Birds Point to New Madrid right away; new levee will be constructed through Mississippi and New Madrid counties, between Birds Point and New Madrid, at distance of from two to seven miles back of present levees along river.

Rain again halts paving of Morgan Oak street, and completion of entire street project in time for use at bridge dedication and American Legion convention is seriously threatened; contractor lacks about 300 feet of having block between Lorimier and Middle completed; concrete at Lorimier and Morgan Oak hasn't all been completed.

-- Sharon K. Sanders