Out of the past: Feb. 4

1997

JEFFERSON CITY -- State Rep. Mary Kasten says her colleagues in the General Assembly have a new nickname for her: "Crash"; Kasten, R-Cape Girardeau, ran her van off U.S. 63 north of the Statehouse yesterday morning as she was driving to work; the van tipped over after hitting an embankment, but Kasten, 68, who was wearing a seat belt, had only a few scrapes and bruises.

A new, local television station is expected to begin broadcasting in March; it will share facilities with Cape Girardeau television station KBSI and serve parts of Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee; WDKA-TV, channel 49, will be an affiliate of United Paramount Network; it will carry both UPN and local programming, including 30 to 40 St. Louis Cardinal baseball games this year.

1972

Authorities are investigating the cause of a fire early last night that heavily damaged a downtown business, but was contained before it could spread to other structures; the three-alarm blaze heavily damaged Ruth's Bargain Center, 8 S. Spanish St.; it was discovered at 6:39 p.m.; firefighters, confronted with below-freezing temperatures and chilling northerly winds, are able to contain the fire within the two-story building, owned by Barbara Juden.

A federal grant of $1,123,360 to continue the delta area Head Start demonstration project for another year in six Southeast Missouri counties -- Scott, New Madrid, Stoddard, Mississippi, Pemiscot and Dunklin -- is announced by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare; the grant is awarded to the University of Missouri-Columbia through the Delta Area Economic Opportunity Corp.

1947

John L. Penn, a member of the Cape Girardeau Police Department 4 1/2 years, has been named head of the force by the City Council; Penn, who has been a sergeant for three years, succeeds acting chief Fred L. Schneider, who was named to the post four months ago, when Marshall F. Morton resigned as chief.

At its meeting Monday afternoon, the Cape Girardeau City Council ordered a special election to decide three issues: A $115,000 bond issue for improvements at Harris Field, extension of the city limits and a referendum on a 3-cent playground tax; after the vote, a reporter asked Mayor R.E. Beckman what of other propositions advocating construction of a new swimming pool, community building, completion of the Arena Building and park and others; the mayor replied, "We'll have to forget about those for a while."

1922

Members of the Women's Auxiliary of Christ Episcopal Church enjoy a visit by Deaconess Gertrude Sterne, a missionary from Anvic, Alaska; not only does she tell of her missionary work, but Sterne describes the country and the Alaskan Indians of the Yukon Valley; after visiting in Missouri, she will spend the rest of her vacation in her native Quincy, Illinois.

Elsie Upchurch, a student at the Teachers College, wins the $5 gold piece given by the American Legion for the best poster advertising the coming musical comedy, "All Aboard," to be given at the New Broadway Theater Feb. 8 and 9.

-- Sharon K. Sanders