Out of the past: Dec. 19

1998

The chances of a white Christmas are less than 50-50, according to the National Weather Service; early forecasts for Christmas called for cold and snow in the region, but forecasters are backing off that prediction; temperatures are expected to be about 10 degrees below normal next week, with lows in the 20s and highs in the 30s, but Christmas Day itself is expected to be warmer.

Three years after developer Stephen E. Strom started looking for a new home for a historic barn, he found the perfect spot; today, weather permitting, the 100-year-old oak logs that make up the barn will be taken apart and moved to the Saxon Lutheran Memorial at Frohna, Missouri; the structure stands in the way of Strom's development of the final phase of the Northfield Subdivision in Cape Girardeau; as part of that project, Strom purchased the Emil Meyer farm, including a log house and barn situated near Lexington Avenue, between Steven and Concord Place.

1973

Construction of a $13.6 million shopping mall containing 617,000 square feet of gross leasable area on Cape Girardeau's west side is revealed when principals of the proposed development announce a long term lease of a 70-acre tract bounded by Route K on the north, Kingshighway on the east, Bloomfield Road on the south and by a residential section spanning areas west and east of Edgewood Drive on the west; the site of the proposed Westborough Mall is one of the last remaining large commercial tracts in the city's growing western section.

Southeast Missouri State University is getting out of the Head Start business before it really got in; the university and the Delta Area Economic Opportunity Corp., which operates a Head Start program serving six Bootheel communities, announce that DAEOC will assume complete responsibility for the program; the university had agreed in August to serve as administrator of the Delta Head Start program after the University of Missouri-Columbia said it would terminate its association at the end of the year; financing was a major issue in separating SEMO from the program.

1948

June Holmes, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L.H. Holmes of Williamsville, Missouri, was crowned queen of the Sagamore, annual year book publication at State College, during the Sagamore ball last night at the Student Center; Holmes, a freshman, was an independent candidate for the honor.

R.L. Glesenkamp has arrived to assume his position, a new one, as district assistant agent under the wildlife restoration program for the Conservation Commission of Missouri; he's looking for an apartment for his family, consisting of a wife and small daughter, Elaine; his new job in the 16-county area will be primarily a contact job with landowners, securing their cooperation in provision of ample cover for wildlife, a plan which also goes right along with soil conservation.

1923

Cape Girardeau's police department will be expanded by two men, bringing the total number of peace officers here to eight; a full-time officer will be added to the Good Hope Street beat, giving that business section 24-hour police protection; another officer will also be added on Broadway, giving that street protection both day and night.

The steamer Bald Eagle docks at Cape Girardeau, probably its last trip here; Capt. William "Buck" Leyhe says that no more trips will be made by the Bald Eagle this season, and since the new steamer Cape Girardeau will be placed in service in the spring, this is likely the last appearance of the Eagle here; while Leyhe would like to make one more trip down before Christmas, the prediction of a quick freeze in the river and a sudden drop in the water helped to make the decision to suspend operations for the winter.

-- Sharon K. Sanders