Out of the past: Dec. 22

1998

Winter has arrived with a vengeance; a blast of arctic air preceded by freezing precipitation swept the region late Monday, plummeting temperatures; icy roadways, blowing snow and wind made for dangerous travel, especially for Santas who helped deliver presents to more than 375 families through Toybox, a joint program of the Cape Girardeau Jaycees and the Southeast Missourian newspaper.

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Bollinger County government could be better managed financially by adopting recommendations of a state audit, Missouri Auditor Margaret Kelly said; the recommendations would allow the county government to be more efficiently and effectively managed, Kelly said in a statement released from Jefferson City; many of the recommendations dealt with record keeping; Kelly said county officials plan to implement many of the audit recommendations.

1973

The word "arson" is on the tip of everyone's tongue, but no one will officially use it after a fire severely damaged the Math Learning Center in the north end of Cape Girardeau Central High School yesterday afternoon; the fire began about 3:25 in one of 12 wooden cabinets containing displays of math puzzles and games; flames spread from the cabinet to the ceiling tiles; a stairwell just outside the door of the room allowed smoke to pour through the upper floors, and witnesses said in five minutes smoke was so thick no one could see.

Because 90% of the total activity of the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Office occurs within a 5-mile radius of the county courthouse in Jackson and Common Pleas Courthouse at Cape Girardeau, Sheriff Ivan E. McLain says the proposed law enforcement complex should be built on the County Farm site -- a site of equal distance to either place.

1948

An expanding 140th Infantry, given impetus by the national defense program, spent $1,020,102.08 in Southeast Missouri this year for pay of personnel, operations, repairs, replacements and additions, and next year foresees a much larger amount; the tabulation was made by regimental headquarters of the district's National Guard units.

There is no formal action on the matter, but indications are mounting that Cape Girardeau City Council members have practically abandoned consideration of a location in Capaha Park as the site for a proposed federal armory; this was given added support by an inspection of possible sites in the vicinity of Arena Park yesterday by Mayor Walter H. Ford, commissioners Cleo Johns and Louis Brune and city engineer John R. Walther.

1923

Steps to prevent Christmas week crime in Cape Girardeau have been taken by chief of police H.F. Wickham, who has issued a general order to police to "pick up" all suspicious characters on the street; the patrolmen were ordered to warn any such characters to leave the streets and, if they refuse, to lodge them in the city jail for questioning on vagrancy charges.

Cape Girardeau's community Christmas celebration is being prepared to make the wishes of 2,000 children come true Sunday evening; a large Christmas tree, nearly 20 feet in height, is erected in Courthouse Park in the afternoon, sporting hundreds of ornaments and electric lights; city business men have cooperated with the YWCA of Teachers College in arranging the event, which will include a gift given to all the children present.

-- Sharon K. Sanders