Out of the past: Aug. 8

1991

Pat Lea, a former chairman of the Missouri Democratic State Committee, said he is considering running next year for the state Senate seat now held by retiring state Sen. John Dennis, D-Benton.

SIKESTON, Mo. -- A near-capacity crowd estimated at 8,500 to 9,000 people attended last night's opening of the 39th annual Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo. Travis Tritt, one of country music's fastest-rising stars, provided the musical entertainment. Tonight's entertainment will be the country band Restless Heart.

1966

George T. Alt, chairman of the local Selective Service Board, said the state has indicated husbands younger than age 26 will be drafted in October to fill the largest quota levied on the state since the Korean War. The Missouri quota has jumped by 242 men from October over the September call.

Meeting before the convening of the Board of Tax Appeals, members of the County Court discuss a possible appeal of the 50 percent assessment increase ordered for the county by the State Tax Commission. The court meets with Prosecuting Attorney Bill D. Burlison and learns it has few alternatives to following the increase order.

1941

Showers fell all around Cape Girardeau again yesterday afternoon, with at least one being of near cloudburst proportion, but left this community the arid center of a big area. Temperatures rose to 99 degrees before the showers and dropped to a low of 75 degrees during the night. Only enough rain fell in downtown Cape Girardeau to dampen the pavement.

An estimated 450 carloads of watermelons and many carloads and truckloads of cantaloupes have been shipped out of Scott and Mississippi counties as the season nears the end. Quality of both have been fair, but correct ripening at the middle of the season was hampered slightly by the scarcity of rain and the relentless sunshine.

1916

Ignoring the recommendation of the special committee appointed to advise the city council, Cape Girardeau Mayor F.A. Kage last night forced the council members to purchase a Robinson fire engine and a hook-and-ladder outfit. The committee, composed of Walter Black and Jay E. Fowler, had recommended the city buy from the American LaFrance Co.

Dairymen peddling milk in Cape Girardeau will be sued at once, unless they pay the vehicle-license tax the city council passed recently in an ordinance raising all the licenses. Undertakers, too, will be compelled to pay the new license at once, which is double the old license.

-- Sharon K. Sanders