Out of the past: April 5

1998

More than 500 youngsters hunt 2,500 eggs at Capaha Park in three different age-related hunts; the hunt is down from last year's turnout, which hosted more than 600 seekers.

More than 70 towboat pilots pulled up to the river bank yesterday and tied up their boats, but they didn't walk off; Dickey Mathes, president of Pilots Agree, a newly formed and rapidly growing organization of inland riverboat pilots, says pilots are conforming to U.S. Coast Guard safety regulations by not abandoning their vessels during a pilots' strike that began at midnight Friday.

1973

Although only slight, some relief is in sight for areas affected by this record Mississippi River flood, thanks to a steadily falling Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois; the relief should be felt only a few miles north of the Mississippi-Ohio confluence at Cairo, but it has come at a time when nothing short of a falling river could aid the hundreds of dedicated volunteers who somehow are still holding the Miller City, Illinois, levee; the predicted crest of 43.5 feet at Cape Girardeau on Sunday remains unchanged.

Reorganizing with two new board members, the Cape Girardeau Board of Education elects Thomas L. Meyer president for the ensuing year; Meyer, long-time Cape Girardeau Realtor and land developer, is serving his second term on the board; Jack O. Kramer is re-elected vice president.

1948

The employment preliminaries to the special Cape Girardeau County-Perry County census get underway in the morning with the establishment of offices in the State Employment Service headquarters on Spanish Street in Cape Girardeau; scores of applicants seeking jobs as enumerators are interviewed; on hand for the first official day at work in the pre-test check for the 1950 decennial census are Burton P. Weaver of the Chicago office, in charge of the two-county count, W.F. Klipstine of Fon du Lac, Wisconsin, his assistant, and Agnes Frederick, supervisor of the area office at Fredericktown, Missouri.

Laying of bricks for the walls of the new Kroger building on Broadway begins; a total of 70,000 face bricks alone will be used in the walls; the building has a frontage of 60 feet on Broadway and a depth of 120 feet; the bricks are mingled buff, and the front of the store will be composed entirely of plate glass from near sidewalk level to the ceiling; Anton Haas & Son are the general contractors for the structure, being erected by Dr. A.L. Fuerth for the grocery chain.

1923

General improvements throughout Southeast Missouri, with the continuation of the present service, is contemplated by Union Electric Light and Power Co., following its purchase of the principal holdings of the Light and Development Co. of St. Louis, owners of the Missouri Public Utilities plants in various parts of the region; C.E. Brenton, supervising engineer for the company, is in Cape Girardeau looking over the holdings of the company here.

Swinging doors and painted windows in soft drink stands, the last relics of the old-time saloons in Cape Girardeau, are on their way out; the City Council is considering an ordinance drafted by the city attorney along the lines of the McCawley Bill signed yesterday by Gov. A.M. Hyde; the bill orders the removal of all blinds, swinging doors and paint from windows in soft drink parlors; Mayor James A. Barks introduced a similar resolution months ago; in his opinion, the clearing away of the blinds, paint and swinging doors will aid in the enforcement of prohibition laws.

-- Sharon K. Sanders