Out of the past: Dec. 16

1996

Southeast Missouri and southern Illinois residents are surprised when they awaken to the first significant snow of the season; a 30-mile-wide area from Poplar Bluff, Missouri, to Marion, Illinois, received 3 to 8 inches of snow; it closes schools, creates slippery roads and strands motorists in portions of the district.

Kent Street has sparked a number of debates over the last six years and may be the cause of many more to come; the Cape Girardeau City Council hears from two people who have a great interest in Kent; one, Dr. David Westrich, wants it extended so traffic on Belleridge Pike -- one of two roads out of Randol Farms Subdivision -- will be lessened; the other, Randol Farms developer David Gerlach, thinks the extension is unnecessary; the city can build the road, he says, but can forget the idea that he will pay for it.

1971

Members of the congregation view storm damage to the 96-year-old Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. Workers cleared away the tower, steeple and bells blown onto the roof. Southeast Missourian archive

Confusion, shock and crowds of curious onlookers hamper clean-up efforts following tornadoes and severe thunderstorms that battered the area early Wednesday leaving one person dead and 24 injured; in hard-hit Scott City, crowds viewing the destruction are hampering clean-up efforts, says Mayor Cliff Campbell; the largest damage estimate thus far has been to the 96-year-old Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown, Missouri, where repairs are estimated at $20,000; strong winds toppled the steeple and tower, causing extensive damage to the roof.

The Cape Girardeau City Council took its first official action toward an option to purchase 78 acres of the Lefarth farm for new park land in the south part of the city; simultaneously, the council announced an option to buy a one-acre tract fronting on Perryville Road to round out the acreage on the former Koerber farm where a new city park is to be developed to serve the northern section of town.

1946

John J. Tlapek, 68, capitalist of St. Marys, Missouri, who has been identified with many business enterprises in Cape Girardeau and elsewhere in Southeast Missouri, dies of a heart attack at his home in the morning; Tlapek had been director of Southeast Missouri Telephone Co., and its predecessor for 26 years; at the time of his death he was a director in the Bank of Perryville, the Bank of Charleston and the Bank of St. Marys and was also a director of the Consolidated School of Aviation in Cape Girardeau; he was also a stockholder in Riverside Lumber Co.

Lumber dealers in Cape Girardeau predict the lifting of housing controls, throwing the building market open to anyone, will result in a building boom, shortly after the first of the year; the forecast is that most of the building will be for individual use and won't result in a great amount of new rental property.

1921

No official notification of the decision by the State Board of Health to require all intrastate travelers on passenger trains in Missouri to have a certificate of vaccination for smallpox has been received by either railroad officials or members of the local health board; it is believed final plans for the carrying out of the ruling haven't been completed; President Joseph A. Serena of the Teachers College is especially interested in the new policy, since nearly 400 students at the college here will be affected by it.

A rare treat is in store for music lovers here; Percy Hemus, distinguished American baritone, will present Mozart's delightful musical comedy, "The Impresario" on Jan. 2, 1922; the performance will also mark the formal opening of Cape Girardeau's magnificent new opera house, the New Broadway Theatre; the Broadway will open as a picture show on Christmas Eve.

-- Sharon K. Sanders