Out of the past: Aug. 23

1996

In a bid to recapture the spirit of his 1992 bus tour, President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore will travel from Cape Girardeau southward through Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee during their two-day bus tour that starts here Aug. 30; the president's wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Gore's wife, Tipper, will accompany the campaign caravan; the tour will include a stop in Southern Illinois, probably Cairo.

Twelve-year-old Liesl Schoenberger of Cape Girardeau, won the state fiddle contest last Sunday over 13 competitors, some of whom were as old as 16; Liesl is a seventh-grader at St. Mary Cathedral School and the daughter of Dr. John and Brenda Schoenberger.

1971

With caution, motorists may now travel the new 36-foot-wide North Sprigg Street from Amethyst to Bertling; the street is open to traffic, but workers will be doing miscellaneous jobs along the roadway for about two weeks.

Definite word hasn't been received by Cape Girardeau grocers regarding thousands of cans of chicken vegetable soup processed by the Campbell Soup Co. in a Texas plant discovered to contain deadly botulism contamination in part of one day's output; but local grocers aren't taking any chances some of those 96,000 cans weren't shipped here and are pulling that variety from their shelves.

1946

Faced with the prospect of an all-time record fall term enrollment at State College when the semester opens Sept. 9, President W.W. Parker in letters to Mayor R.E. Beckman and the Chamber of Commerce asks assistance in providing additional housing facilities for the hundreds of students who are coming; with all three dormitories filled and with long waiting lists, other facilities are being converted to housing; Harris Field will house 45 families of veterans and old Broadway School will accommodate a dozen families and 60 to 70 single men; the college even plans to house about 16 men in "Indian Hall," a one-story brick dwelling at the northwest corner of Houck Field Stadium, and a half-dozen men at Houck Field House.

George Rouse, director of the old Social Security Commission and its successor, the present Cape County Welfare Office, announces his resignation, effective Aug. 31, and the appointment of O.L. Duncan as his successor.

1921

A committee consisting of Fred A. Groves, Palmer Oliver and Dr. C.E. Schuchert has been appointed by Cape Girardeau Mayor H.H. Haas to make arrangements for a reception to be given the giant 11-passenger air cruiser "Santa Maria," due to make a flight from Chicago to Vera Cruz, Mexico, within a short time; Haas and two or three prominent men of the city, as well as local newspaper representatives, have been invited to take a trip aboard the cruiser to the next city en route.

Five wireless stations, fully equipped and all paraphernalia furnished by the United States government, are to be set up in Southeast Missouri, according to Col. Warren L. Mabrey, regimental commander of the Sixth Regiment; one of the stations will be placed in Cape Girardeau, while the others will be in Sikeston, headquarters for the First Battalion; in West Plains, headquarters for another battalion; and in Kennett and Caruthers, which are to be made headquarters for battalions to be organized soon; the wireless outfits will be in full charge of the National Guard unit in each city.

-- Sharon K. Sanders