Out of the past: Aug. 12

1994

The first River Heritage Regional Black Family Reunion kicks off here with a presentation by the Rev. Benjamin Hooks, former executive director of the NAACP; Hooks attends a prayer breakfast and is keynote speaker at a leadership seminar that is part of the reunion; the reunion is sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce.

The new Themis Street bridge over Walker Creek opens to traffic in the morning; but the Independence Street span over the same creek will be closed to eastbound traffic beginning Monday morning; Themis Street at Kingshighway has been closed to traffic since March 25 because of the city's flood-control project.

1969

Meeting last night, the Cape Girardeau Board of Education voted to reduce the school tax levy by 8 cents for this fiscal year in view of the blanket assessment increases ordered recently by the Cape Girardeau County Board of Equalization; the new rate is $3.77 for each $100 assessed valuation.

Right of way has been obtained, plans are completed and on Aug. 29 the State Highway Commission will take bids for the remaining 13.1 miles of Interstate 55 in Cape Girardeau County, from its present Fruitland terminus to the Perry County line.

1944

The SEMO District Fair is expected to draw a record crowd this afternoon, eclipsing the first two main program days, each of which drew about 6,000 people to the new city park; the fair will close tonight after holding its earliest showing in history.

C.C. Conrad, former superintendent of schools at Jackson and a graduate of State College, has been elected supervisor of elementary education in the public schools of Little Rock, Arkansas, one of the finest city school systems in the country.

1919

Maj. Warren L. Mabrey has returned to America from duty overseas, having landed Saturday; his wife and children left Jackson yesterday to meet the major in Washington and to accompany him home; in the early months of the war, Mabrey was one of the prime movers in the reorganization of the Sixth Missouri Regiment; in the reorganization of forces for overseas service, Mabrey was attached to another regiment and commanded a battalion of Kansas and Missouri troops; he and his command gained much fame during the fierce fighting in the Argonne Forest.

Mr. and Mrs. George T. Boone of Jackson leave for Milwaukee to visit for some time; from there, they will go to Geneva, Nebraska, to make their home; Boone has accepted a position as vocational agriculture teacher in the high school at Geneva.

-- Sharon K. Sanders