Out of the past: April 24

1997

The region's ABC television affiliate plans to air the coming-out-of-the-closet episode of the "Ellen" sitcom Wednesday night despite opposition from some viewers; the Rev. Mark Anderson of Lynwood Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau has asked officials at WSIL-TV in Harrisburg, Illinois, not to run the episode and has urged his congregants to write to the station's general manager to voice their opposition.

Even with Sam's Club adding to the number of big stores on Siemers Drive, motorists using the street shouldn't expect it to be widened any time soon; but the Missouri Department of Transportation is working to improve the traffic flow at its intersection with Route K, and Drury Development has plans for improving the intersection of Siemers and Lowes Drive; by next year motorists could see some traffic on Siemers diverted to the south.

1972

Cape Girardeau County Court says it will place a bond issue or special levy on the August primary election ballot to build a new juvenile detention facility if requested to do so; however, the court says it still favors a unified approach to solve all the detention problems of the county; the statement is in response to a recent Southeast Missourian article in which it was disclosed the court has turned back $30,000 in federal funds which had been available for juvenile home construction.

JEFFERSON CITY -- Rep. Bill D. Burlison, D-Cape Girardeau, files for a third term as representative of Southeast Missouri's 10th Congressional District; the congressman, who files for the Democratic nomination without fanfare, is among the candidates who flocked into the secretary of state's office as the filing deadline neared.

1947

The Cape Girardeau Jaycees, through its good government committee, announces that L.G. Hardy of Moberly, Missouri, a "country printer" who is so enthusiastic over the city manager form of government that it has become a hobby with him, will be here for a three-day series of meetings in May to explain this modern method of municipal government; the meetings will be one of a series of discussions on the various forms of city government contemplated by the committee.

Preliminary work starts in a building at 24 N. Spanish St., by engineers of the R. Lowenbaum Mfg. Co., in preparation for the opening of a dress-making plant; Frank Cihla will manage the local factory; it will probably begin operations around June 1.

1922

With a drop of one foot since Saturday in the Mississippi River, the backwaters are receding from the inundated riverfront streets of Cape Girardeau, leaving in their wake mud and debris; early this morning, water at the intersection of Main and Independence streets is gone, while the floodwater on South Main, between Independence and Merriwether, is falling rapidly; men are removing the timber of the false floor in the new Frisco railroad station and preparing to clean out the mud as soon as the water is completely gone; Water Street is still inundated.

All the East Cape Girardeau, Illinois, district, from McClure and south to Gale, is under water, following the break in the levee one mile south of McClure early Saturday; farms in that section are submerged.

-- Sharon K. Sanders