Out of the past: Dec. 19

1989

In what has been described as a move unprecedented in this century, the Coast Guard has closed a 200-mile stretch of the Mississippi River from St. Louis to Cairo, Illinois, due to hazardous navigation conditions; the closing is the result of record low water conditions and heavy ice floes that have pulled navigation channel buoys off station.

The Cape Girardeau Convention and Tourism Bureau will operate on a bigger budget next year; the city council has allocated $299,230 for operations of the bureau, almost $60,000 more than this year's budget.

1964

An illegal dove kill in Mississippi County last September will mean food on the table for needy families in this area; nearly 500 doves seized Sept. 7 by conservation agents and held until this time have been turned over to the Salvation Army at Cape Girardeau.

Members of the State College Golden Eagles Marching Band decided yesterday not to make the trip to Washington, D.C., to perform at the inauguration of President Lyndon B. Johnson; among reasons members decided not to participate were final examinations during that week, the high cost of insurance and the hurried manner in which the trip would have to be organized.

1939

After considering an application of the Community Transit Lines of Fostoria, Ohio, for a franchise to operate motor buses in the city, the Cape Girardeau City Council has declined to take action on the matter.

Hinkle Statler of the Marquette Oil Co., has leased a gasoline service station at the corner of Good Hope and Spanish streets from Louis Hecht; Glenn O. Smith to be in active charge of the station.

1914

Frank Kimmel, Charles Boutin and others who agreed to cut and transport the municipal Christmas tree to town were forced to postpone their plans because of the rainy, blustery weather.

A fight that took place about 5 p.m. yesterday near Commerce, Missouri, ended in Joe Sanders, a well-known farmer in that vicinity, getting his skull fractured in two places by blows over the head with a gun held in the hands of his neighbor; the men are said to have held an old grudge against each other, and when they met Friday, an argument led to the blows that may prove fatal to Sanders.

-- Sharon K. Sanders