Out of the past: April 21

1998

The Southeast Missouri State University administration wants to hike general fees over the next five years to pay for a new student center; the administration has also proposed raising incidental fees for the 1998-99 school year by $3 a credit-hour for in-state undergraduates and $6 a credit-hour for out-of-state students.

Claire McCaskill, Kansas City, Missouri, prosecutor, addressed about 60 persons at a luncheon meeting yesterday of the Cape Girardeau Rotary Club at the Holiday Inn; McCaskill said Missouri's law enforcement agencies and local prosecutors should target businesses that sell cold pills and other chemicals in bulk to manufacturers of methamphetamine; she said some retailers knowingly sell cold pills in bulk to meth dealers, even charging more because they know it will be used to make the illegal drug.

1973

For the second consecutive day, Southeast Missouri was spared from violent weather that ripped across portions of Missouri yesterday, spawning tornadoes that killed one person and torrential rains; but the storms' effects will be felt in Cape Girardeau as the Mississippi River once again is expected to reach record heights.

Ozark Air Lines flights to and from Cape Girardeau and 61 other cities in 15 states remain canceled today -- the second day in a row -- because of a strike by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association; a spokesman for the 500-member union in St. Louis says no reply has been received from the airline to telegrams by the union offering to resume negotiations on the salary dispute; Ozark had expected 20,000 passengers on the Easter weekend.

1948

The Southeast Hospital Board of Trustees learned last night that a check for $3,000 has been received from the William C. Weiss estate in compliance with a will bequest; hospital superintendent Herbert S. Wright said the money is in addition to $2,500 previously received from the sale of a residence Weiss owned; under terms of the will, the money will be put into an investment fund to apply on an addition to the hospital.

Kenneth Knox, a State College athlete, has been appointed coach of the Sikeston (Missouri) High School Bulldogs, succeeding Lou Bon, who resigned; Knox will graduate from college in May and will go to Sikeston in August.

1923

The breaking of a high voltage electric wire near the intersection of William and Spanish streets at 8:45 last night caused a large number of homes in the south and west sections of Cape Girardeau to be without lights for more than an hour; the wire broke during a rainstorm and fell into a tree on Spanish Street, where workers were unable to find it for some time.

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- A suit to contest the will of the late Joseph J. Russell, congressman from Missouri, who died here leaving an estate of $350,000, has been filed in circuit court by attorneys representing near relatives of a deceased sister, Eliza Reid; the suit seeks to set aside a change made in the will a few months before Russell's death.

-- Sharon K. Sanders