Out of the past: Dec. 10

1996

The Cape Girardeau County Commission will look into increasing after-hours security at Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau in the wake of an attempt by an arsonist over the weekend to set fire to the historic building; while damage to the 142-year-old courthouse was negligible, Don McQuay, head supervisor of buildings and grounds for the county, cautions the commissioners not to take the incident lightly, because the arsonist and the motivation for the crime remain unknown.

A group of 24 newly elected members of the Missouri House of Representatives gets an insight into Southeast Missouri State University during a stopover here in the evening; the group is on a tour of the state as part of the freshmen lawmakers' exposure to the divers problems they will be dealing with as voting members of the House next month.

1971

Southeast Missouri and southern Illinois residents are cleaning up the debris left by a storm that causes two deaths and widespread damage early in the day; gusts of wind at times approach tornadic force, damaging buildings, including the Illmo-Scott City Elementary School, forcing it to close; trees topple onto utility lines, knocking out electrical and telephone service in scattered areas.

A 5-year-old boy is run over by a school bus in the 1900 block of Briarwood in the afternoon; Cape Girardeau police say the kindergartner appears to have suffered internal injuries when the left wheel of the bus runs over him at about 3:12 p.m. in front of his home.

1946

Cape Girardeau Mayor R.E. Beckman says the city will contact the post office department and the Federal Works Agency in Washington at once to determine the status of the new post office building; the U.S. Supreme Court, in a decision Monday in a proceeding which has been in the courts since 1941, held the government could proceed with the condemnation of a site in Courthouse Park; the decision approves the projected trade between the government and the city whereby the city would get the present Federal Building in exchange for the park tract on which old Common Pleas Courthouse is situated.

In a cooperative arrangement entered into by Southeast Hospital, school authorities and the county tuberculosis association, children in schools in Bollinger County, Missouri, who showed a positive reaction to the patch test for tuberculosis are being brought to the hospital this week for x-rays; yesterday, 33 youngsters from the grade and high schools at Patton had x-rays made; during the week they will be followed by children from Lutesville, Marble Hill, Zalma and the rural schools.

1921

The New Metropolitan Cafe -- finest eating place in Missouri south of St. Louis -- is formally opened at 11 a.m.; the restaurant is at 6 N. Main St., across from I. Ben Miller's drug store; the New Metropolitan will be operated in conjunction with the other Metropolitan restaurant, corner of Main Street and Broadway, by Mike Vasil and Philip Faris.

Kingshighway, between Cape Girardeau and Ancell, won't be opened tomorrow as previously expected, but the work will be finished so it can be opened for traffic Monday morning, it is officially announced by the road overseer in charge of repairs; by working all day Sunday, it is expected the bridge over the drainage ditch can be put into repair, and there will be no further interruptions; automobiles traveling south on Sunday will have to go via Dutchtown and Chaffee, Missouri.

-- Sharon K. Sanders