Out of the past: Dec. 17

1997

For the first time the Cape Girardeau area is participating in the nationwide program Toys For Tots, thanks to the local Marine Corps recruiting office and Real Rock 99.3 radio station; the local Toys For Tots effort is joining forces with Toybox in Cape Girardeau; most of the toys collected will be distributed through the Toybox campaign; some will be donated to the local American Red Cross.

A 4-foot wall hides the sunken fountain area of West Park Mall as the Center Court gets a needed face lift; the amphitheater has been an icon of the mall for 15 years, serving as a stage for talent contests, fashion shows, musical shows and a few auctions; in an effort to update the area and to make it safer for the public, the sunken area will be filled in with concrete; the center-court floor will be even with the rest of the mall and will feature a park setting, complete with threes and new teak benches.

1972

Judith Farris, a native of Cape Girardeau and well-known contralto, is a soloist with the chancel choir of First Presbyterian Church in the presentation of Handel's "Messiah; the performance is under the direction of Paul Kirk; Farris, a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, was among winners in Metropolitan Opera auditions.

The sophomores of Cape Girardeau Central High School were the winners of the 1972 food for the needy competition at the school; they collected 1,220 of the 2,527 cans of foodstuffs to be distributed this week by the Salvation Army to families in need of food for a Christmas dinner.

1947

Traffic on area highways is back to normal, but in Cape Girardeau some heavily traveled streets are still slippery from an icy coating that followed Monday's 6-inch snowfall; parking is difficult along curbs due to the deposit of ice, and in many instances ice hasn't been removed from sidewalks in the business sections of town.

Cape Girardeau's efforts to bring the Freedom Train to the city are further bolstered in the evening, when the Louis K. Juden Post of the American Legion unanimously endorses a proposal urging the American Heritage Foundation to consider the city as one of the stops on the train's itinerary.

1922

The Salvation Army will conduct about the only charity work in Cape Girardeau this Christmas; with the passing of the Provident Association, and the willingness of other organizations to turn over the charity work to the Salvation Army, the organization plans to furnish the city's poor with their Christmas dinners; more than 100 baskets will be distributed on Christmas day, according to Capt. Venus McAlearney.

A jury in Common Pleas Court decided late yesterday that a monopoly existed in the retail ice business in Cape Girardeau during the summer of 1921; the jury gave Blue Ribbon Ice and Fuel Co. $8,000 damages and its attorneys $1,000 in fees, in the suit brought by Blue Ribbon against Morrison Ice and Fuel Co. and the Energy Coal and Supply Co., charging that the plaintiff company had been "frozen out" of the ice business here.

-- Sharon K. Sanders