Out of the past: Feb. 15

1990

A bridge on County Road 351 in Millersville was destroyed after heavy rains that moved into the area last night; County Commissioner Leonard Sander figures it will cost $35,000 to replace the span, which was about 40 years old.

Eric Schuchardt, a graduate assistant in the political-science department at Southeast Missouri State University, and Dr. Rick Althaus, a political-science professor at the university, have returned from a trip to the Soviet Union, where they participated in the 1990 Moscow Model United Nations.

1965

Efforts are being made to provide the McClure-East Cape Girardeau and Ware-Wolf Lake communities in nearby Illinois with water systems through the formation of water districts.

The Cape County Court discusses the possibility of using people in the county jail for road and other public work in the county, such as cutting brush along roadways and in parks and maintenance work around the courthouse; the court decides to discuss the matter with Circuit Judge W. Osler Statler and Magistrate Roland G. Busch.

1940

Jackson residents are taking steps to assure the community a National Guard company and an armory to serve as its headquarters; the building also will be used as a community building; those boosting the plans are hoping to establish a machine gun company at Jackson, to be part of the 140th Infantry.

Cape Girardeau lawyer J. Grant Frye formally announces he is a candidate for the Republican nomination for attorney general of Missouri.

1915

The debate over the purity of Cape Girardeau's water continues; the state board of health department at Jefferson City has tested the water several times recently, and each report shows the water is good; at the same time, the state university at Columbia has declared the water contaminated; recently, water taken from the same faucet at the same time was sent to both the state board and the university; once again, the state board declared the water suitable to drink, while the university condemned it.

Contractor J.W. Gerhardt started work several days ago on the eight-room bungalow for William Suedekum on Jefferson Avenue.

-- Sharon K. Sanders