Out of the past: Aug. 31

1990

Southeast Missouri State University will begin an on-campus recycling program Sept. 17 that will be phased in over a two-month period.

An Alaska man, who claims police and President George Bush are out to kill him, leads law enforcement officers on a three-county, high-speed chase that starts in Cape Girardeau and ends at the Fredericktown, Missouri, Wal-Mart store; when it's all over, the 35-year-old man -- who also had stolen a vehicle belonging to Cape Girardeau lawyer John Cook after asking for a knife at a local Christian school -- is in custody.

1965

The city council gave first reading yesterday to the ordinance providing for general city pay raises of $40 per month approved last week. The ordinance is intended to bring all pay provisions up to date. The new starting salary for firemen is $3,840 per year, and for policemen, it is $4,080.

A building permit has been issued and construction is expected to start immediately on a new shopping center in Jackson; the Main Street Plaza Shopping Center will be on the tract formerly occupied by the old Mill B of the Cape County Milling Co.

1940

Charles Windisch Jr., tells of pulling George Lacy from the Mississippi River the other night, when Lacy made a misstep at the edge of the gangplank of steamer President and fell into the water.

Lawyer A.M. Spradling returns from St. Louis, where he competed in the national left-handed golf tournament on the Norwood Hills Country Club course; in the four matches, in which he won three and was eliminated in the finals yesterday, Spradling took 350 strokes for 72 holes; he brings home a trophy for being runner-up in the vacation division.

1915

A.H. Hinchey spends his last day as secretary of the Cape Girardeau Commercial Club, turning over all records and unfinished business to president J.H. McPherson; Hinchey plans to go to St. Louis tonight to meet tomorrow with the officers and members of the executive committee of the State Federation of Commercial Clubs, for which he will now work.

The barn of George Baker near Fruitland catches fire at 2 a.m. and burns to the ground in a short while; the blaze is discovered by Gustave Kiehne, who is driving through from Pocahontas; by the time he notifies the Baker family, flames envelope the barn and nothing can be saved.

-- Sharon K. Sanders