Out of the past: Dec. 30

1993

Bingo sponsors across the state want the new bingo tax repealed, saying it will mean cutbacks in donations to charities; locally, petitions calling for the repeal of the tax have been circulated at bingo games.

About 185 good Samaritans, some waiting in line for up to an hour and a half, roll up their sleeves and donate blood; last year at this time, fewer than 150 area residents donated blood; but the Red Cross made it known it was short of all types, and people respond to the appeal; the blood drive is held at the Holiday Inn Convention Center.

1968

Plans and specifications for the improvement of North Sprigg Street between Bertling Street and the existing pavement should be complete within 30 days, the city engineer's office reports; they will then be presented to the City Council for its approval prior to calling for bids; the proposed design reverts back to a much earlier proposal of widening and paving the street in a straight line between Bertling and the existing pavement.

Orange blossoms will replace the ice and snow forecast for the Cape Girardeau area for the State College Golden Eagles; the college band, frequently featured in nationwide half-time activities at professional football games, will be Miami bound tomorrow morning; the band will present "A Salute to Irving Berlin" at the Play-Off Bowl matching the Minnesota Vikings and the Dallas Cowboys.

1943

Gustave Schultz, 77, for 25 years a justice of the peace in Cape Girardeau, a former city collector and for many years owner of a barber shop here, dies at Southeast Missouri Hospital, where he had been a patient for three weeks; Schultz was the son of Charles and Caroline Schultz, pioneer residents of Cape Girardeau.

The county draft board announces the names of 51 men known to have been accepted for military duty from the contingent of 90 who reported at Jefferson Barracks on Dec. 21 for examination; included were many in the pre-Pearl Harbor father classification, having from one to six children.

1918

The Boston Grocery, corner of Broadway and Main Street, was robbed last night, about 2,000 cigarettes and a quantity of bacon and hams being stolen; but the money safe and the cash drawers were unmolested.

Cape Girardeau's public schools reopen in the morning, after having been closed several weeks because of the influenza epidemic; the attendance is about 400 fewer than normal, but is larger than at the time the flu ban stopped classes; likewise, the Normal School reopens, with the enrollment of students being the order of the day.

-- Sharon K. Sanders