Out of the past: Feb. 8

1997

A report released by the Missouri State Teachers Association shows the 525 public-school districts in Missouri have increased minimum salaries and outpaced inflation in maximum salaries at an impressive rate; but Missouri teachers' salaries still averaged approximately $5,500 below the national average of $37,324 in 1995-96, and estimated expenditures per pupil were about $1,000 below the national average of $6,098, the MSTA said.

Robert G. Neff, vice president and managing partner of Ford Groves Co., has been honored by Time Magazine; Neff of Cape Girardeau has been selected as a finalist of the 1977 Time Magazine Quality Dealer Award; he is the youngest dealer ever to be selected in the 28-year history of the award, which is sponsored by Time and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., in cooperation with the National Automobile Dealers Association.

1972

Today is Boy Scouting's birthday and during February, Scout Anniversary Month, boys in Southeast Missouri will join with those nationwide in observing the program's 62nd anniversary; highlights of the month here will include the Southeast Missouri Eagle Court of Honor, the annual Shawnee District Scoutarama, Boy Scout Sunday, the launching of a new drug action program for Scouts and numerous Cub packs' Blue and Gold Banquets.

Littering of public and private property by some pupils attending Cape Girardeau Central High School is again drawing complaints from residents along Themis, Luce and Whitener streets between Sunset and Caruthers; most of the littering occurs during noon hours, when pupils go to nearby drive-ins, get carry-out lunches and then eat in cars parked on those streets, according to an anonymous resident; she says the youths throw sacks and other debris out of their cars.

1947

The city is informed in letters from U.S. Attorney Harry C. Blanton that a motion for rehearing of the post office-Courthouse Park trade was denied by the Supreme Court Monday; by refusing to rehear the motion, the court closed the last avenue by which the city's trade of historic Common Pleas Courthouse and a portion of the park for the present post office building could be blocked.

Driving in with frigid force, a new cold wave sends the mercury tumbling to 5 degrees in Cape Girardeau early in the morning, five degrees lower than the previously recorded season low; heavy ice floes dot the Mississippi River.

1922

Pastors of Cape Girardeau churches, who are leading the fight against the Sunday moving picture shows, are attempting come to an agreement with the managers of the theaters here, whereby performances wouldn't be held at periods in the day conflicting with church service hours;.

On a surprise test run made at 8:10 a.m., the Cape Girardeau Fire Department makes an eight-block run -- from the station at Independence and Frederick streets to the corner of Broadway and Henderson -- in two minutes and 25 seconds; the test is conducted by Mayor James A. Barks, who is out to try the efficiency of the various departments of the city.

-- Sharon K. Sanders