Out of the past: Aug. 19

1997

Don Beggs, chancellor of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, wants to change the image of the campus from a party school to one that offers quality educational opportunities; "It's no secret we have an image problem," said Beggs, who was in Cape Girardeau yesterday promoting SIU; Sunday marked the first anniversary of Beggs' tenure as chancellor; SIU's image has been tarnished by out-of-hand student Halloween celebrations.

USMedia Group Inc. plans to sell four daily newspapers and five weeklies to Rust Communications of Cape Girardeau; contract details are still being worked out, but change of ownership is expected by Oct. 1; the deal would also include several shoppers and niche publications in Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska and Idaho.

1972

Rep. Bill D. Burlison confirms the Bureau of Sports Fisheries and Wildlife won't recommend wilderness status for 8,000 acres of the Mingo Wildlife Refuge near Puxico, Missouri; while the bureau has recommended 1,700 acres of the 21,646-acre refuge be put aside for wilderness use, conservationists have urged 8,000 acres be set aside, pointing out the bureau has excluded the heart of the swamp, Monopoly Lake, as well as the most valuable stands of cypress and water tupelo and many state champion and some national champion trees.

Jackson's first city administrator, Harry J. Kollman, will submit a letter of resignation to the Jackson City Council Monday; Kollman has accepted a position with the City of Riverview, Michigan, and is to report to work there Sept. 17.

1947

Following the instructions of the Cape Girardeau City Council, city attorney R.P. Smith has notified the SEMO District Fair board that before this year's exposition -- Sept. 8 through 13 -- it will be necessary for the fair to be covered by public liability insurance; council members' thinking is that the city, which isn't staging the fair and merely holds title to the grounds on which it is held, shouldn't be held liable in any lawsuit that might develop from the fair.

Ground is broken in the afternoon for the student service center on the State College campus, one of two structures on which work is to start immediately; afterward, in a special meeting of the Board of Regents, the memory of Dean Vest C. Myers is honored when the men's dormitory is named Myers Hall; Memorial Hall is selected as the name for the new student service building.

1922

Narrowly escaping death on the horns of an infuriated bull, Ferdinand Seyer, a farmer living 3 1/2 miles from Cape Girardeau on the Jackson Road, is saved by the arrival of his wife and a neighbor, after he is severely gored; the attack on Seyer occurs at 8:30 a.m. in a potato patch on the Seyer farm; the extent of his injuries hasn't been learned.

Repeal of the Volstead law, described as "more tyrannical than any edict of a czar or kaiser," was urged by George Graham Vest of St. Louis, addressing a crowd of 250 persons at Courthouse Park last night under the auspices of the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment; Vest denounced prohibition, saying it was a result of "fanatics and political montebanks getting hold of the women's temperance and church societies for their own gain," and urged restoration to Americans of light wines and beer.

-- Sharon K. Sanders