Out of the past: April 3

1996

The makeup of the Cape Girardeau City Council won't change as voters yesterday re-elected councilmen Melvin Gateley, Jack Rickard and Melvin Kasten; Gateley won re-election to a second, four-year term in Ward 5, defeating challenger Lawrence Godfrey; Rickard defeated first-time candidate Jay Purcell in Ward 3 to win a four-year term; and Kasten was unopposed for re-election to a second, four-year term in Ward 4.

Cape Girardeau voters Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a dozen amendments to the city charter that supporters said will bring more accountability to city government; voters said yes to council term limits, creation of an ethics commission, tax and fee limitations, and a number of measures dealing with city finances.

1971

An investigation that could lead to the prosecution of the Little River Drainage District in connection with fish kills in Southeast Missouri drainage ditches and streams is being made by water quality biologists of the Missouri Department of Conservation; it is estimated that in a ditch near Arbor, 2,900 fish 3 inches or longer were killed per mile, based on a 100-yard sample in which an actual count was made.

Legal entanglements growing out of condemnation proceedings -- and the resulting fines -- are hindering the proposed sale of the burned-out Idan-Ha Hotel property, Broadway and North Fountain Street, to a firm said to be planning overall improvement of the site; Montgomery Trust is apparently willing to sell and the other party is willing to buy, but not as long as there is a lawsuit pending as a result of condemnation proceedings.

1946

Voters Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a proposal increasing the Cape Girardeau School District's operating fund by 25 cents above the $1 the board may assess and to a $60,000 bond issue to complete payment and improve the new high school site on West Broadway; in addition, Hugo A. Lang and Walter H. Oberheide, incumbents, were re-elected to the school board without opposition.

Underwriting a summer playground program for Cape Girardeau's children, the Lions Club votes to appropriate $1,000 toward hiring a supervisor and caring for other necessary details; it is hoped additional money from other sources will be available to go into the fund; plans call for use of playgrounds at Washington, Franklin, May Greene, Lorimier and Cobb schools.

1921

Having wielded rakes and hoes Friday and Saturday to finish work on the temporary tees and greens at the new Cape Girardeau Country Club links, Fred A. Groves and Charles W. Boutin play the first nine holes of golf, with Groves winning, 68-73; other members who play a round are Robert Lamkin, Norman Hely, George Steck, Mary Griffith, Bob Beckman, Walter Albert, W.F. Bergmann, Charles Black, Sam Sherman, George Bolz and Charles A. Himmelberger.

The remains of Ben Eggers, who was killed in the Battle of the Argonne Nov. 7, 1918, arrives in Jackson in the afternoon and is taken to the McCombs undertaking parlor, where it will lie in state; a detail of American Legion boys in uniform act as escort from the rail station to the undertaking establishment; the flag at the courthouse is lowered to half staff and will remain so until after the funeral Tuesday afternoon.

-- Sharon K. Sanders