Out of the past 8/5/09

25 years ago: Aug. 5, 1984

The Otahki Girl Scout Council's Camp Cherokee Ridge has enjoyed a good summer; about 300 girls participated in activities at the resident camp near Patterson, Mo., during the camp's six-week run.

The winner of the 1984 Kelso Sommerfest crown, Tammy Wubker, 16, of Oran, presided over the festivities at this year's celebration held Friday and yesterday; she was selected from among 13 contestants.

50 years ago: Aug. 5, 1959

Employees of Cape Girardeau's department of public works have voted to affiliate with a statewide local of the Teamsters union and have been chartered as a member of that organization; the 17 employees are members of Teamsters Local No. 774, Public Service Employees of Missouri.

Contracts for transportation to and from the new Training Center for Handicapped Children to open in September are awarded to the Small Rate Cab Co. of Cape Girardeau and Mrs. Walter Hopfer, of Uniontown, Mo., by the board of the Cape Girardeau County Association for Retarded Children.

75 years ago: Aug. 5, 1934

Preaching in the evening at the union service at Courthouse Park is the Rev. William H. Hackman, pastor of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church; the topic of his sermon is "The Challenge of the Cross."

Fishing near Neelys Landing on the Mississippi River, A.L. Thompson and Ernest Goehring of Cape Girardeau catch a 40-pound blue catfish, as well as a "little one" that weighs 18 pounds; the big fish is hooked on a slice of summer sausage.

100 years ago: Aug. 5, 1909

The stockholders of the Cape Girardeau-Jackson Interurban Railway agree to pay for the paving between the tracks when Main Street is improved; this apparently removes the last objection the work, as some property owners didn't want to pay to have the street paved between the street car tracks.

David James, a structural steel worker, met a tragic death at the cement plant yesterday, being crushed to death by a heavy chest of tools falling onto him from a scaffold; James, with his brother, was a contractor putting up smokestacks and tanks for the plant.

-- Sharon K. Sanders