Out of the past: Feb. 20

1992

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A fuel tax increase rolled through an approving Legislature and is signed by Gov. John Ashcroft; prices at gasoline and diesel pumps will jump 2 cents starting April 1, and go up another four pennies during the next five years. All Southeast Missouri senators and representatives voted in favor of the proposal.

Officials of the city of Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri State University express concern over distribution of leaflets here promoting a "white pride" demonstration and Ku Klux Klan cross-burning. The leaflets state several Aryan organizations will hold a "demonstration" on June 13 in front of Cape Girardeau City Hall, followed by a "cross-lighting" on private property.

1967

Lt. Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, head of the nation's Selective Service System, dined last night with members of the Cape Girardeau County Selective Service Board and district military personnel associated with state draft headquarters; Hershey was here to address an Eagle Scout class bearing his name.

Sheriff Ivan E. McLain confirms a rumor Phillip Odell Clark, being held on first-degree murder charges in the Cape Girardeau County Jail at Jackson, had made an attempt to escape.About a week ago, Clark was moved to another cell so his could be painted, and a makeshift rope, 15 to 20 feet long and fashioned from parts of his mattress, was found in his cell.

1942

Trial of a suit involving the projected condemnation of a site in Courthouse Park for the new federal building/post office moves toward its end in Federal Court. A surprise feature of the session is the presentation by attorney Orren Wilson of a petition by which the Grand Army of the Republican and its Ladies Auxiliary and the Sons of Union Veterans seek to intervene in the case; the organizations ask dismissal of the proceedings on the ground destruction of the memorial monument at the entrance to the park would result.

Further tire restrictions, the most drastic imposed since the program went into effect, are received by the Cape Girardeau County Rationing Board, which announces all retreaded or recapped tires are now "frozen."

1917

The Cape Girardeau City Council last night reversed its previous action and voted to appropriate $3,000 from the park fund voted by the people a year or so ago to the Civic Improvement Association to be used with a fund the women have created to build a municipal swimming pool at the corner of William and South Lorimier streets.

Of the $15,791.21 spent on the roads of the Cape Special Road District last year, only $1,302.30 was appropriated to the roads inside the city limits of Cape Girardeau; of that small portion, $957 was spent on repairing Sloan Creek bridge.

-- Sharon K. Sanders