Out of the past: Aug. 24

1995

At a news conference yesterday at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, Gov. Mel Carnahan announced the creation of the Missouri State Highway Patrol's Violent Crime Support Unit; Carnahan said the unit will "put more advanced crime-fighting technologies and expertise at the fingertips of local law enforcement officers" during investigations of major crimes.

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- A college education will be closer to home when the Perry County Higher Education Center opens next month; the center is housed in a former kindergarten school at Sereno, Missouri, five miles north of Perryville on Highway 51; Southeast Missouri State University, Mineral Area College at Park Hills, Missouri, and the Perryville School District have teamed up to offer a handful of entry-level classes this fall.

1970

Fire yesterday morning -- the fourth major blaze here within 48 hours -- destroyed the Carousel Beauty Salon, 121 N. Pacific St., and caused extensive heat and smoke damage to an adjoining women's fashion shop, Milady's; preliminary estimates of damage at the two shops located in French Village is put into the thousands of dollars; the beauty salon is operated by Gloria Boren, while Mrs. H.A. Krahn owns the dress shop.

Tenth District Rep. Bill D. Burlison requests a federal grand jury probe into the arson fires at M.E. Leming Lumber Co. and City Sanitation Co. here Friday night; Burlison says he has also asked for a report from the director of the Office of Economic Opportunity because of rumors federal agency employees may have participated in the fires or in planning them.

1945

Daniel Paley, superintendent of the Dorsa Dress factory here, spoke last night at the weekly dinner meeting of the Optimist Club; he revealed to the club his company has definite postwar expansion plans for Cape Girardeau; as soon as is practicable, the company plans to build a new factory building and double the present employment capacity.

The Clyde Beatty Circus, featuring Beatty himself and what is being advertised as the largest trained animal act on the road, is expected to arrive in Cape Girardeau on Sunday and stage two performances Monday at the new fairgrounds.

1920

Homer L. Roberts, Southeast Missouri State College professor, drowns in Current River in the morning; his body hasn't been recovered; he and his wife were vacationing in the Ozarks; along with his wife, he is survived by a son, Lt. Edward S. Roberts of the ordnance department of the U.S. Army, who is now representing the Army at the Olympic games at Antwerp, Belgium.

The crew of surveyors engaged to mark out King's Highway begins to work southward from Jackson in the morning, starting at the established corner in front of the courthouse.

-- Sharon K. Sanders