Out of the past: April 10

1999

​

School district administrators say a federal law that governs special education programs has handcuffed their ability to discipline students; about 40 Southeast Missouri educators from 18 school districts met with U.S. Sens. John Ashcroft and Christopher “Kit” Bond yesterday at the Cape Girardeau Area Vocational-Technical School; they said the federal Individuals with Disabilities Act also has saddled the nation’s school districts with burdensome and expensive disciplinary procedures; Ashcroft and Bond pledged to work toward improving the law.

The Cape Girardeau Board of Education approved a bid during a special meeting Friday to install air-conditioning units at Alma Schrader and Clippard elementary schools; after the equipment is installed, all five elementary buildings scheduled to open next year will be air-conditioned; Central Junior High is also air-conditioned, leaving Schultz and the high school as the only district buildings without air.

1974

​

​Cleanup continues from the derailment of 16 railroad cars and three diesel units of the St. Louis-to-Memphis, Tennessee, Frisco freight train early Monday morning near Wittenberg; debris and railroad cars are still scattered along the tracks, as investigators probe the scene to determine the cause of the derailment; the train was transporting motor vehicles and food; no one was injured in the accident.

Tractor-trailer rigs equipped with citizens band radios are giving Missouri Highway Patrol Troop E officers all kinds of problems in trying to slow down truck traffic on fast-moving area highways; truckers faced with tight schedules have found that radio contact among themselves usually allows them to maintain speeds faster than the new 55-miles-per-hour speed limit without threat of being stopped for speeding, because they know where patrol cars or radar checks are located.

1949

​

​Palm Sunday. The rite of confirmation is performed for the following catechumens in the morning at Christ Evangelical Church: Perry Lee Dockins, Javada Joe Geiser, Carolyn Jo Metje, Gary Wayne Metje, Anna Kate Strom and Jerry Allan Wieser.

A four-barge, cement-loaded tow, pushed by the towboat Mokita and en route from St. Louis to Memphis, Tennessee, sideswipes the west pier of the Cape Girardeau traffic bridge at 12:40 a.m., caving a hole in one barge and sending it and two others out of control downstream; the Mokita, working with the Shawnee and the tow of a Hough-Cowger Co. derrick and pile driver, manage to wrangle the wayward tows, but that isn’t accomplished until 6:45 p.m.; the heavily reinforced concrete pier suffers no damage.

1924

​

​Machinery that will be used in the construction of the $143,000 bridge across the Diversion Channel on Kingshighway, south of Cape Girardeau, is being unloaded and taken to the proposed site for the bridge by employees of the Liston-Weatherley Construction Co. of Kansas City, which has the contract to build the span; work on the bridge should begin within 30 days.

Capt. Henry Leyhe of St. Louis notifies the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce the steamer Cape Girardeau will make its maiden trip to Cape Girardeau on April 23; given an exact date for the boat’s arrival, the committees of the chamber are busy making plans for the reception of the new vessel; it is estimated that more than 10,000 persons will be on the wharf to see the steamer’s arrival.

Southeast Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders compiles the information for the daily Out of the Past column. She also writes a blog called “From the Morgue” that showcases interesting historical stories from the newspaper. Check out her blog at www.semissourian.com/history.