Out of the past: Dec. 22

1994

CAIRO, Ill. -- Although both sides made concessions yesterday, talks broke off late that night without a settlement to the Cairo teachers' strike which started more than a month ago; with teachers in one office and school board members in another, proposals and counter-proposals were dispatched back and forth late into the night.

About 40% of Cape Girardeau Central High School's black students have been disciplined this year, while about 10% of the schools white students have been punished; some 10 to 20 people participated in a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People staged a demonstration at the high school Wednesday, protesting what they called the school's inequity in its treatment of black and white students and its lack of black employees.

1969

Three Cape Girardeau County Jail prisoners are back in cells today nursing injuries from a fight which erupted Saturday morning after they reportedly drank disinfectant and sniffed glue; the trio somehow obtained an aerosol can of disinfectant and, by spraying it into a plastic bottle, converted it to a liquid, which they mixed with water and drank; the tube of glue they sniffed was obtained from a trustee.

Winter made its entry official yesterday, dumping the heaviest snow of the chilly season this year on the Cape Girardeau area; at the municipal airport, the snow measured 3 inches.

1944

Cape Girardeau has its coldest weather of the season, as the mercury dips to an official 11 degrees in the morning, four degrees lower than the previous low recorded Dec. 2; the forecast calls for the cold weather to hold its grip statewide tonight and Saturday; a light snow fell here yesterday afternoon.

Bob Vangilder, a yeoman second class in the Navy, home for a 30-day leave with his wife and children in Cape Girardeau, tells of the sinking of the U.S.S. Princeton; Vangilder was aboard the carrier when it was sunk during a sea battle in the Philippine Islands area Oct. 24; he spent five hours in the water before being recovered by a destroyer.

1919

The Mississippi River is blocked with ice at Commerce, Missouri, and two towboats have been tied up at Cape Girardeau since Saturday waiting for it to clear; they are trying to get down the river in order to make trips in the southern waters all winter.

Mr. and Mrs. Otto Kochtitzky, 239 N. Pacific St., are preparing for a number of guests during Christmas week; their son, Wade, and his baby are here from Malden, Missouri, and their daughter, Mrs. A.R. Byrd, is expected to arrive from Texas tomorrow; Otto Kochtitzky's brother, E.H., and Wilbur Kochtitzky, and their families are also expected to arrive Tuesday from North Carolina for the holidays.

-- Sharon K. Sanders