Out of the past 9/8/06

25 years ago: Sept. 8, 1981

More than $100,000 in federal grant money is being made available to the city of Cape Girardeau for improvements at the municipal airport; the funds must be formally applied for by city officials, something city manager Gary A. Eide says will be done later this week.

The Jackson Board of Aldermen approves the rezoning of three lots on Washington Street near the county courthouse from residential to commercial, paving the way for possible construction of a new post office; Chug Crites requested the zoning change in hopes of selling the property to the U.S. Postal Service.

50 years ago: Sept. 8, 1956

Meticulous examination of new leads and re-examination of pertinent past testimony has failed to disclose any new evidence which would warrant an indictment in the brutal holiday slaying two years ago of Bonnie Huffman, the Cape Girardeau County grand jury declares in its final report; the jury, after hearing testimony since June 19, is dismissed by Circuit Judge Marshall Craig.

SEMO District Fair will begin its six-day run Monday; entertainment in front of the grandstand will include Lonzo & Oscar from the Grand Ole Opry, the Jimmie Downey Stage Show, the Porter Wagoner Show and Aut Swenson's Thrillcade.

75 years ago: Sept. 8, 1931

Hundreds of people greet the trains bearing the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus when they begin arrive in Cape Girardeau at 5 a.m. at the Missouri Pacific tracks on Independence Street; several uniformed members of the 3rd Battalion Headquarters Co. of Missouri National Guard aid the police with traffic control.

Second place was awarded the Drum and Bugle Corps of the American Legion of Cape Girardeau in the annual competition at the state Legion convention in Joplin, Mo., yesterday; Joplin won first place.

100 years ago: Sept. 8, 1906

Dix Walker, the one-time aspirant for political honors and a resident of Oak Ridge -- the Democrat hotbed of Cape Girardeau -- published the first number of his newspaper this week; The Indicator, as Dix calls his publication, has a large number of items of interest to the people of the Oak Ridge corner of the county.

The new gents' furnishing store at the corner of Main and Themis streets will open its doors in the near future; Joseph Kaminer, one of the proprietors, is in Cape Girardeau making arrangements for the opening.

-- Sharon K. Sanders