Out of the past: Dec. 8

1993

A group of Cape Girardeau auto dealers yesterday lost their legal challenge over the city's gross sales license tax; the Missouri Eastern District Court of Appeals Tuesday affirmed Circuit Judge A.J. Seier's ruling in favor of the city's contention that the tax is constitutional.

Cape Girardeau's Ward 6 is the first of four municipal races next spring that will require a February primary; Richard L. "Butch" Eggimann filed an election petition yesterday, the fourth candidate to file in Ward 6 on the city's west side; also on Tuesday, Joseph Sampson became the second candidate in the city's Ward 2 to file his petition; he joined Tom Neumeyer as a candidate in that ward.

1968

The Rev. Richard C. Lamb, new pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, conducts his first church service there in the morning; the family moved here last week from Whitehaven, Tennessee, where Lamb was pastor of Gracewood Presbyterian Church for six and one-half years.

Construction is underway for the new Hanover Lutheran Church, which is being built across the street from the present church building on Perryville Road; groundbreaking ceremonies were held Oct. 20, and construction began the following day, with completion expected around May 1; general contractor is Crites and Sailer Construction Co.; architect is Fred. E. Dormeyer Jr.

1943

Mr. and Mrs. R.N. Amos of Delta have been notified by the Navy Department that their son, Seaman Calvin J. Amos, 18, is missing in action following the torpedoing of the escort aircraft carrier Liscome Bay the latter part of November in the Gilbert Islands section; the craft was sunk by a Japanese submarine.

Cape County Extension agents T.P. Head and Sidney Korando were recently re-employed by the Farm Bureau in Jackson, under an agreement with the University of Missouri; also under that agreement, the bureau is to have a membership of 250 by Jan. 1, and a campaign is now underway to sign up farmers, with Henry Peetz in charge of the effort.

1918

Because of the new ban combating the Spanish influenza epidemic, no services are held in Cape Girardeau churches; after a close down of five weeks, the previous ban was lifted, and for three Sundays the churches were opened; but conditions becoming serious again, the city authorities deemed it best to forbid any public gatherings until the epidemic has subsided.

Three aviators -- Lts. Charles W. Burch, Samuel D. Cunningham and Thomas C. Curtis -- flew over Cape Girardeau yesterday, seeking the best route for air mail service between St. Louis, Memphis and other southern cities; Cunningham is a Cape Girardeau boy, being a nephew of Mae and George Green of Themis Street.

-- Sharon K. Sanders