Out of the past: Feb. 5

1992

Hundreds of gallons of concentrated chlorine spilling from a drain at the Capaha Park swimming pool was responsible for killing hundreds of fish last week in the park's lagoon; after workers collecting the dead fish reported a chlorine smell from the water, the drain was checked for leaks; it was found that "concentrated chlorine leftover from last summer" had spilled into the lagoon from a broken valve in a drain in the pool's pump room.

Cases of canine distemper are on the rise in Southeast Missouri; pet owners and those interested in acquiring a dog are cautioned to make sure animals get regular vaccinations.

1967

The Rev. Oscar A. Gerken, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church and first vice president of the West District of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, has announced the district board of directors has authorized the initiation of a full-time campus ministry at State College here and at Central Missouri State College in Warrensburg.

About 30 people in the evening fight to contain a fire that bursts out in the Cape Girardeau City Sanitation Dump near Hobbs Chapel on Route V; after about three hours, the fire is extinguished, and no property damage is reported.

1942

Preliminary steps toward the organization of the 1st Indian Squadron, composed entirely of Teachers College students and the first of its kind in Missouri, which will be attached to the U.S. naval aviation force, were taken last night at a meeting of 40 college youths; 25 of the boys will go to St. Louis on Saturday to appear before the Naval Aviation Selection Board, where they will take physical examinations; those selected for the squadron will return to school and take their primary and probably their secondary aviation training here.

Adolph E. Kies, manager of the Cape County Shipping Association, announces negotiations have been completed for a state show and sale of the Missouri Shorthorn Breeders Association on March 24 at the Arena Building.

1917

Cape Girardeau is to have an aviation school, providing it can attract students; Fred A. Groves, the Ford man of Southeast Missouri, and A.M. Tinsley, the public utilities man of the same district, have decided to open such a school and to make some raw youths of the district into renowned fliers or government aviators for war purposes.

Yesterday's storm was decidedly the worst experienced in the area in the last decade or so; while the thermometer didn't dip as low as at other times, the gale carried the bitter cold into buildings; the plumbing at the county courthouse at Jackson froze up, a thing that has never happened before.

-- Sharon K. Sanders