Out of the past: Feb. 5

1996

Continuing brutally cold weather brought Mississippi River barge traffic to a halt yesterday, leaving two tows and their loads frozen immobile near Cape Girardeau; one, the Dennis Hendrix of Jeffersonville, Indiana, is stranded just a couple hundred meters north of the water system pump house at Cape Rock Park; the other, based in Minneapolis, is stopped slightly upstream but still visible from the park; local barge workers say ice hasn't stopped barge traffic on the Mississippi since 1979.

John Cai has leased the China Palace restaurant, 1731 Broadway; Cai, a native of China, came to the United States in 1992; when he arrived in Cape Girardeau, he joined the Golden Dragon restaurant, which was owned by a relative, businessman Peter Choi.

1971

It's an exciting thing -- going to the moon -- but many Girardeans have a ho-hum attitude about today's lunar landing and walk by astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., and Edgar B. Mitchell; a morning survey by The Missourian indicates televised coverage of the spectacular achievement -- the third by the United States -- doesn't capture the complete attention of most city residents as did earlier lunar adventures.

An army career man of Illmo died yesterday in South Vietnam of wounds sustained in battle Jan. 26; S-Sgt. Larry H. Marshall, 33, whose wife, Linda, and their five children reside in Illmo, had been in serious condition since he was struck in the head by a missile.

1946

Bonded indebtedness of the Cape Girardeau public schools stands at $70,000, and this will be retired at the end of the year; this was revealed with the burning last night by the Board of Education of $73,372.50 in coupons and interest bonds, including the last of the bonds issued for building additions to Washington and Franklin schools; only the new Lorimier School remains to be paid out of the bonded indebtedness list.

Monsignor H.F. Schuermann announces his replacement as pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church: the Rev. John S. Moser, currently at Arcadia, Missouri, and formerly pastor of the church at Leopold, Missouri; he will come here the week of Feb. 17, when Schuermann will go to St. Louis to become pastor of St. Englebert Church.

1921

Vick McGownd and James Payne of Carthage, Missouri, are expected to arrive here in the near future to make their home with their sister, Jane McGownd, physical director of the Teachers College here; she has leased the George Waters apartments on Spanish Street.

Forty teams are at work reconstructing the Baker Road northwest of Sikeston, Missouri, and 15 on Tanner Road, a few miles further north; 14 car loads of novaculite from the gravel pit at Wittenburg, Missouri, are being delivered daily on the Frisco Railroad for the Baker work, while seven car loads are received for the Tanner project each day.

-- Sharon K. Sanders