Out of the past: Dec. 14

1995

Cape Girardeau plans to tout its transportation tax projects with road signs similar to those the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department has used for its road work; the city's Public Awareness Advisory Board approved the sign design Tuesday; the "Roads to Success" logo shows a road curving through a line of green trees and hills; it also thanks the public, which approved the tax that will fund the work; there will be two, 3-by-4 signs erected for each project.

A petition drive to let voters decide whether to extend a sales tax for state parks and conservation programs is going well; the effort was launched by the Missouri Farm Bureau and a number of conservation and parks groups in August at the Missouri State Fair; although signatures have not yet been completely tallied, Estil Fretwell, a Farm Bureau official involved with the effort, says preliminary estimates look encouraging.

1970

U.S. Rep. Bill D. Burlison, D-Cape Girardeau, goes to bat for four Southeast Missouri counties -- Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Madison and St. Francois -- protesting the proposed abandonment of a Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. branch line; declaring the abandonment would have a serious impact on the industrial growth of the area, Burlison tells the Interstate Commerce Commission he questions the economic advantage to the railroad in eliminating 65 miles of the Belmont Branch.

A young Cape Girardeau airman, Sgt. Billy J. Hogan, 21, who had been reported missing following the crash of a U.S. transport plane over South Vietnam on Nov. 29, is dead; his mother, Mrs. Jack Hogan of Cape Girardeau, was notified of her son's death Saturday afternoon by officers from the ROTC unit at Carbondale, Illinois.

1945

Farm land in Southeast Missouri continues to command good prices, according to bids received on certain tracts the Farm Security Administration has just sold from the Delmo housing units; amounts paid ranged up to $166.22 per acre.

The winter's coldest weather, with temperatures expected to drop to 12 to 18 degrees above zero, is moving toward Cape Girardeau; but coal dealers report their customers' bins are pretty well filled, and relief agencies don't anticipate any great amount of suffering.

1920

Jacob Kirchoff, Clinton White and another man named King are questioned in police court in connection with the alleged theft of several tubs of coal from the Frisco right-of-way, but no charges are filed against them; the city prosecutor finds they hadn't broken any law in carrying away the coal they found lying along the tracks; the floor dump on a coal car had apparently opened, and the coal dropped out through it; there is no evidence found the men opened the dump.

Plastering and plumbing work at the new Frisco railroad station should be completed this week, and plans for the formal opening of the depot are being considered.

-- Sharon K. Sanders