Out of the past: April 16

1994

MILLER CITY, Ill. -- There's good news and bad news for victims of flooding in the Miller City area; the bad new is the Len Small levee break has widened, pouring more water into the Miller City and Horseshoe Lake area, stranding some residents; the good news is the Mississippi River is expected to drop two feet Monday, following tomorrow's 42.5-foot crest.

The Southeast Missouri Business Group on Health opposes a possible plan to build medical office buildings on the campus of Saint Francis Medical Center, contending it's bad medicine for the community; the group's board of directors argues such a plan would result in costly duplication of services and ultimately higher costs to health care consumers.

1969

The sound of gunfire rattles around Williams Creek at the Cape County Gun Club, as members of the county sheriff's department hold firearms practice under the Federal Bureau of Investigations training program for law enforcement agencies; the sheriff's department is the only local agency outside of the State Highway Patrol which participates in the program in Cape County.

Within a year, Cape Girardeau may have a "hot line" with a single telephone number, 911, for all three city emergency services: police, fire and ambulance; the first official steps toward obtaining the "hot line" will be taken within the next 24 hours, when Mayor Ivan L. Irvin writes a formal letter of request for the number to Southwestern Belle Telephone Co.

1944

A series of special ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of the priestly ordination of Monsignor H.F. Schuermann, pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church, begins and will continue through Wednesday; Schuermann was ordained in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome; kicking off the anniversary observance is an entertainment presented by the parish grade and high school pupils in the evening at the school hall.

Cape Girardeau's tin can drive yesterday netted a full railroad car load of metal to be shipped to a processing plant and converted into vital war material; the drive brought in 40,000 pounds of tin, with about 125 Boy Scouts assisting in the work.

1919

E.W. Flentge and Charles Fluhrer, majority stockholders in the Roth Tobacco Company here, report they have bought the Fluhrer Tobacco and Snuff Company of Boonville, Indiana; it was a $300,000 corporation that did a big business for many years, but finally ended in bankruptcy court, where it was sold at auction last week.

Dr. G.W. Walker leaves in the afternoon for Excelsior Springs, Missouri, to attend the state meeting of the Grand Council of the Masonic Lodge and from there will go to St. Louis and probably to Chicago to take a special course in X-ray work; he will likely be gone a month or more.

-- Sharon K. Sanders