Out of the past: Aug. 15

1998

In an effort to secure the safety of students arriving and leaving the new South Elementary School on Highway 25, Jackson school officials elected to install flashers alerting traffic of the school zone; Dr. Howard Jones, Jackson school superintendent, notes this had been done at another facility, and they felt is was quite beneficial; the school has already secured bids on the flashers, and a MoDOT engineer will work with the school on proper placement.

Cape Girardeau City Councilman Melvin Gateley, who gained notoriety as the winner of the VFW's July Fourth milking contest, is upstaged by area dairy youngsters; Gateley, outfitted in a football referee's jersey, serves as one of the judges of the latest milking contest; the milk flows freely on the Kirchdoerfer dairy farm west of Cape Girardeau as eight boys and girls vie for the title of grand champion milker; in the end, the winner is Katie Hemmann, a 13-year-old who has grown up on a dairy farm in Oak Ridge

1973

Bones and hair that were discovered in what appeared to be a fresh shallow grave on the south edge of Old McKendree Chapel Cemetery east of Jackson yesterday are being examined by the Southeast Missouri Crime Laboratory at Cape Girardeau; Charles Bahn discovered the grave while looking at tombstones; while the three bones and hair appear to be that of an animal, the county sheriff's office believed they should be examined to be certain.

SIKESTON, Mo. -- An explosion that blew a 3-foot diameter hole in the rear wall of a new discount store here late last night was probably caused by a homemade bomb, authorities say; the explosion, which caused between $1,000 and $2,000 in damages to Big K Discount Store, occurred at 11:50 p.m. and was heard as far as 10 miles away at Matthews, Missouri; authorities say a quantity of explosives had apparently been strapped to a gas line running into the building from a 23,000-gallon LP gas tank behind the store, which was empty at the time.

1948

The Rev. P.A. Kasey, pastor of Grace Methodist Church, is guest speaker at the Methodist Church in Charleston, Missouri, of which he was pastor from 1931 to 1935; the pastor of that church, the Rev. J.C. Montgomery, speaks at Grace Church in the morning.

Grace Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau recently purchased property west of the edifice from Claud Keesee; in the future, the congregation plans to enlarge the auditorium and increase social and recreational space; it is the latest step in an improvement program begun with the purchase of new carpeting for the auditorium and a baptismal font and equipment, both bought by the Ladies Aid Circle of the W.S.C.S.; a communion table and its furnishings were given as a memorial to their daughter, Charlotte, by Mr. and Mrs. Phil Haman.

1923

Officials of the Marquette Cement Co. in South Cape Girardeau announce they will take immediate steps to force the Frisco Railroad to make the crossing near the plant, where two men were killed Saturday, safer for traffic; a near recurrence of tragedy Monday has given impetus to the effort; Marquette officials will recommend that either an electric alarm be installed at the crossing, a flagman placed there, or that gates be installed to stop traffic when a train is approaching.

Dr. and Mrs. G.B. Schulz, 605 Broadway, return home after a delightful two and a half months spent in a tour of Canada and the West; it was the first vacation for the widely known surgeon in the 30 years he has been in practice; dozens of old friends, scattered in as many states, were met by the Girardeans during their tour.

-- Sharon K. Sanders