Out of the past: April 29

1994

Larry Dowdy, the executive vice president of Little River Drainage District, says his group isn't opposed to having a gambling boat on the Diversion Channel, as long as the project wouldn't damage a levee; several companies seeking to place a gambling boat in Scott City have talked with the district's board of supervisors about using the channel.

For the second day in a row, severe thunderstorms packing high winds, hail and heavy rain lashed parts of Southeast Missouri yesterday afternoon and evening, causing property damage and power outages; in Cape Girardeau lightning struck the roof of May Greene School, causing damage to the southeast corner of a parapet wall along the outside of the building.

1969

CAIRO, Ill. -- Illinois Gov. Richard B. Ogilvie orders a company of National Guardsmen to Cairo, where some firemen and supporting police officers were driven away from a fire last night by what a witness described as a "withering blast of gunfire."

Lt. Col. James R. Crites, a Cape Girardeau optometrist and commander of the 1140th Engineer Battalion, Missouri National Guard here, will represent the Missouri Department of the American Legion on June 6, when he attends the dedication by the National Guard Association of a monument on Omaha Beach, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Allied Landing at Normandy.

1944

McCLURE, Ill. -- Hundreds of Illinois state militiamen and volunteers battle against rising Mississippi River floodwaters that threaten within the next 24 to 48 hours to test the full strength of the levees protecting this area; the gravity of the situation brought a joint warning late yesterday afternoon from the U.S. Engineers and American Red Cross to residents to immediately evacuate the entire McClure basin.

The Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau reaches 39.4 feet at 8 a.m., a rise of six inches in 24 hours; the slowing of the rise is being blamed on yesterday's levee breaks in Illinois; more water creeps into the low points of the Main Street business section; water reaches to the middle of the Spanish-Independence streets intersections, and boats went as far as the east boundary of the intersection.

1919

A battle tank, accompanied by five men, arrives here early in the morning on the Victory Loan Special from St. Louis in the interest of the Victory Liberty Loan campaign; the tank is taken from the railroad flat car and is driven up Normal Hill; in a demonstration of its abilities, the tank knocks down some trees and crosses some ditches; several locals get rides.

Clarence Nenninger, one of the proprietors of the Orpheum Theater, plans to start work soon on three houses on North Main Street; they will be frame and contain five rooms each.

-- Sharon K. Sanders