Out of the past: Dec. 15

1994

WEBSTER GROVES, Mo. -- Former Cape Girardeau police officer Jack V. Crittendon, 56, died at his home in Webster Groves on Monday; Crittendon joined the Cape Girardeau Police Department after his brother, Don Crittendon, was killed along with auxiliary police officer Herbert Goss in a shoot-out in 1961; he recently retired from the Webster Groves Police Department after 25 years of service.

The Cape Girardeau license bureau will close Monday and Tuesday to move to new quarters at 104 S. Spanish St.; the bureau is moving from 220 N. Main St.; it will occupy the south part of the building which previously housed Monroe Glass.

1969

Two railroad companies -- the Missouri Pacific and the St. Louis Southwestern -- have paid their school taxes for 1969, but under protest, claiming schools don't adequately lower their tax rates to compensate for assessment increases; the companies have 90 days to file lawsuits in Circuit Court to prove their contention.

In a brief ceremony, three newly appointed commissioners of the Housing Authority of Cape Girardeau are administered the oath of office by City Manager Paul F. Frederick; the new commissioners are Richard S. Snider, Cape Girardeau attorney; Vincent A. Kogge, a retired associate of Marquette Cement Mfg. Co., and Donald G. Sherwood, an employee of Hirsch Broadcasting Co.

1944

Authorities arrest a Scott County couple, breaking one of the largest marijuana production and marketing rings in many years; a large quantity of dope leaves is seized, as well as 208 pounds of seed -- enough to plant many acres of the crop; the two have lived in the Chaffee-New Hamburg, Missouri, community most of their lives.

Cape Girardeau now has 44 miles of surfaced streets, says City Engineer John R. Walther; during this year, the greater part of the surfacing was low-cost, 20-foot surfaces for the purpose of dust elimination.

1919

Contractor J.W. Gerhardt tells a Missourian reporter he will begin work on the new passenger station to be erected by the Frisco Railroad at Independence and Main streets; the first work to be done will be to stake off the grounds, set the lines, etc.; active work, such as grading and putting in the foundation, will wait until the end of winter.

The Cape Girardeau City Council passed a measure repealing Ordinance No. 2, which set the salaries and wages of city officials appointed or elected by the council, and establishing new salaries and wages; almost every officer receives either a $5- or $10-a-month raise with the exception of city clerk, city engineer and fire chief, who received a $12.50 a month raise.

-- Sharon K. Sanders