Out of the past: Dec. 1

1996

The Parade of Lights, in its fourth year, travels Cape Girardeau's downtown streets as an annual kickoff of the Christmas season; the parade, consisting of 110 floats, starts at Capaha Park, heads east on Broadway to Main Street, and then south to Hutson's Furniture; the parade is sponsored by the Downtown Merchants Association and KBSI-TV.

Construction is complete on the new building, and the congregation of First Christian Church will hold its first services Dec. 8 at its new location, 2411 Abby Road; the 106-year-old congregation has held services in several locations, the most recent being at 829 N. West End Blvd.

1971

An employee of Farmers and Merchants Bank, 701 Good Hope St., was robbed at gunpoint last night of 926 checks -- one a bank draft payable to First National Bank here in the amount of $148,791.69 -- as he was walking to his car on the Farmers and Merchants parking lot; the victim, Virgil J. Cotner, a bank custodian, was taking two money bags jammed with endorsed checks to the night depository at First National Bank, 100 Broadway.

Musical instruments valued at between $500 and $600 are stolen in a burglary at Oak Ridge High School; entry to the building is gained by breaking a window and opening another; the thieves apparently then leave with the instruments by way of a door; stolen are an alto saxophone, three clarinets and two trumpets.

1946

Don McNeely, who recently returned from service with the armed forces in the Pacific area, is the speaker at the regular meeting of the Presbyterian Youth Fellowship in the evening; he speaks on "How the Japanese and Japan Impressed Me."

The Rev. R.M. Jank will move to Pocahontas this week as he has been named pastor of Zion Lutheran Church; he succeeds the Rev. A. Kueker, who moved to New Haven, Missouri, as a pastor; Jank, since his discharge from military service, has been assistant pastor of St. Matthew's Lutheran Church in St. Louis.

1921

An open meeting of members of the Red Cross in Cape Girardeau has been called for Monday night, to be held in the Health Center here; the fate of the center will be decided at that time; means to raise more money to carry on the work, or a decision to close t5he center, will be made at that gathering.

Brought into Circuit Court at Jackson, Herbert Little, brother of Luther Little, who is serving a penitentiary sentence for the murder of Cape Girardeau policeman Willis Martin, pleads not guilty to murder; his trial is expected to get underway Tuesday.

-- Sharon K. Sanders