Out of the past: Aug. 22

1995

A search is on for the site of a new U.S. courthouse and federal building in downtown Cape Girardeau; Jim Ogden of the General Service Administration's Kansas City, Missouri, office says a minimum of 175,000 square feet of space is needed for the building; the GSA outlined the boundaries for the building over a 15-block area bounded by Sprigg, Spanish, Independence and Bellevue streets.

MDI Corp. and Air Evac EMS Inc. have reached an agreement for MDI to purchase the fixed-based-operator assets of Air Evac Aviation at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport; the purchase will be by MDI's Prestige Air Services division; MDI, headquartered in Cape Girardeau, has a number of interests, including outdoor power equipment distribution, facilities leasing, land development and air charter services; Air Evac EMS operates the air ambulance service at Saint Francis Medical Center.

1970

Fires destroyed the mill operation of M.E. Leming Lumber Co. in South Cape Girardeau last night, and five City Sanitation Co. refuse disposal trucks on South Kingshighway also went up in flames, while a sixth truck was damaged; Mayor Howard C. Tooke has business ties to the mill; a front page editorial in The Southeast Missourian newspaper places the blame for the arson fires squarely in the lap of the United Front, an organization which has threatened violence against the community and its leaders in its efforts to establish low-income public housing here.

The outlook for refuse collection in Cape Girardeau is uncertain because more than half of the fleet of the City Sanitation Co. was destroyed by arson fire last night; Mayor Howard C. Tooke says the city will take any action necessary to collect garbage until the company gets on its feet; should the company be unable to handle collections for any length of time, City Public Works trucks may be used, the mayor says.

1945

The lights have gone on again in Cape Girardeau's gasoline filling stations; following the suspension of gasoline rationing last Wednesday, a number of local stations are remaining open until 9 p.m., reverting to their pre-war schedules; those staying open report they are doing considerable business at night, and that quite of bit of this is tourist business.

It was announced yesterday a 1,200-bed neuro-psychiatric hospital will be constructed in Southeast Missouri in 1947; the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce hospital committee is hoping to secure the Veterans Administration facility.

1920

The last of the summer's outdoors union worship services is held in Courthouse Park in the evening; the Rev. Ludd M. Spivey, pastor of Centenary Methodist Church, is the speaker.

An airplane operated by Sam Harrell of Sikeston, Missouri, is damaged when it hangs on some telegraph wires south of Cape Girardeau in the morning while trying to take off from a field; it will have to remain here for repairs before it can be flown home.

-- Sharon K. Sanders