Out of the past: Feb. 15

1996

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Hartmarx Inc. will phase out its manufacturing operation at the Thorngate Ltd. plant in Chaffee this year, probably this spring or summer; the Chaffee plant, which manufactures sportswear for Hart, Schaffner & Marx, employs approximately 150 people; the closure won't effect the Cape Girardeau Thorngate plant, which employs more than 650.

Christie Johnson of Cooter, Missouri, has been appointed the new student regent at Southeast Missouri State University; she will serve a two-year term, ending Jan. 1, 1998; she is scheduled to be sworn in at the March 18 meeting of the Board of Regents.

1971

Tickets for the annual Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce and Joint Service Club banquet are going fast; the event is scheduled for March 9 at the Arena Building and will honor Air Force Gen. Seth J. McKee; McKee, a Cape Girardeau Central High graduate and student at State College before entering flight training, is commander-in-chief of the North American Air Defense Command and of the Continental Air Defense Command.

Newly-hired police -- making possible 24-hour dispatching in Jackson -- are introduced to the Jackson City Council in the evening; City Administrator Harry Kollman introduces two new night police, Herman F. Gribler and George F. Knight Jr., and meter maid, Betty Brown.

1946

Frieda Rieck, director of music in the Cape Girardeau public school, has been appointed a member of the music department at State College by the Board of Regents; the appointment, on a full-time basis, becomes effective with the beginning of the spring term March 4; Rieck will take over a portion of the work of Wilhelmina Vie, who will go on limited service at the start of the term under the college retirement plan.

Pupils of St. Mary's School in special assembly tender Monsignor Henry F. Schuermann, retiring pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church and dean of the Cape Girardeau Deanery, a farewell, given in music and rhyme, in testimonial to his accomplishments as a parish and community leader; around 500 persons crowd into the school hall for the tribute.

1921

The building at the corner of Spanish and Independence streets, formerly the garage and salesroom of Minton-Thompson Motor Co., is now the property of Albert Loffa of Illmo; Loffa secured an interest in the building as a creditor of the company, holding a second mortgage on the property, for the sum of $100; he later assumed all the encumbrances on the building, amount to $13,000, and was given the sole ownership to the property; Fred A. Groves, Ford automobile agent, is using the main floor of the building as a storage room for automobiles.

A little red Ford racer, the property of Louis Boatright of Fredericktown, Missouri, stolen from the curb at the end of the 500 block of South Middle Street last night, is recovered shortly before noon by Policeman Curtis Childs; the thief, in his race to elude the owner and officers, tried to drive through an unused street in the far south end of the city and steered the car into a mud hole, from which he couldn't escape; he abandoned the auto.

-- Sharon K. Sanders