Out of the past: Jan. 11

1996

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Ending a week-long impasse, the Missouri House yesterday elected Democratic Rep. Steve Gaw of Moberly as speaker, replacing Bob Griffin, who held the post a record 15 years; Republican members of the House are calling on Gaw to embrace changes they say his predecessor stubbornly opposed.

A 60-foot section of the brick parapet of L.J. Schultz School, 101 S. Pacific St., collapses onto the roof in the afternoon; no one is hurt; principal John Eck blames the collapse on the building's age; Schultz and May Greene schools, both built in 1914, are the oldest public school buildings in Cape Girardeau.

1971

The wounds of defeated public housing proposals in Cape Girardeau were reopened yesterday when city manager W.G. Lawley underwent questioning by board members of East Missouri Community Action; Lawley, representing the City Council, was questioned by board members and other interested citizens following a tour of substandard housing in South Cape Girardeau.

No decision is made on financing, but the go-ahead is given by the Cape Girardeau County Court for finalized plans for a new juvenile detention home.

1946

An enthusiastic crowd of 202 businessmen and farmers from Cape Girardeau and northern Scott County, who have signed up for a five-year soil conservation program, met yesterday for a noon luncheon; far exceeding expectations of the sponsor, the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, the crowd spilled from the main dining room of Hotel Marquette to the small annex and out to a large table in the coffee shop.

Shortages in retail food stores here, brought on by the five-day-old truck drivers' strike in St. Louis, were alleviated to some degree overnight by express shipments and one railroad carload of freight; the car of staples, which must be divided among various district stores, came last night from a chain's warehouse at St. Louis; it could be loaded because a switch track runs directly to the warehouse.

1921

In the third and last test debate, held in the morning at Cape Girardeau Central High School, Elmer Strom and Edna Beeson are chosen to represent the school at the Southeast Missouri High School Debating Tournament; judges for the contest are the Rev. C.H. Swift, R.H. Limbaugh and Mrs. S.P. Dalton.

Cape Girardeau and nearby towns that get their electric current from the local plant are without light and power from 6 to 6:30 p.m., and William Runnels, fireman at the power plant, is severely scalded, as a result of the bursting of a jet on one of the boilers; workers try hard to keep up the required load of electricity with one boiler, but it can't be done, and the lights gradually dim and go out; as this was happening, workers prepared another boiler, and the normal amount of "juice" is soon forthcoming.

-- Sharon K. Sanders