Out of the past: Jan. 20

1993

Former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz spoke last night before an audience of about 300 at a meeting of the Cape Girardeau Executive Club at the Drury Lodge; Butz told the crowd that within a generation, the world will have to increase its food-producing capacity by two-thirds to feed the 3..5 billion more people expected to be alive by 2020.

JEFFERSON CITY -- With about 40 percent of his district new territory, State Sen. Dennis Ziegenhorn, D-Sikeston, has installed an 800 telephone number in his state capital office; he hopes it will make it easier for constituents to contact him.

1968

PUXICO, Mo. -- The search widens for the polite, well-dressed gunman who, posing as a jewelry salesman, robbed the Puxico State Bank yesterday of $23,890 mostly in large bills; the robber, described as a white man in his late 30s, closed the five bank employees in the vault before making his escape.

Investigation into alleged discrepancies, faulty engineering and construction in Cape County Public Water Supply District No. 1 by the inspector general's office of the USDA is expected to be completed next month; the investigation is a result of the refusal of the Farmers Home Administration, a division of the USDA, to authorize final payments to the engineer and contractor.

1943

With a forecast for a slight moderation in temperatures, some relief from the severe cold appears in the offing as the mercury, for the second straight day, sinks to 2 degrees above zero at Cape Girardeau and at Jackson; the intense cold brings suffering to those unprepared to withstand a sustained period of bad weather; the county Social Security office has had about 30 calls for fuel coming from persons who are unemployable and who have no income.

A new Coast Guard District Training School near Wolf Lake, Illinois, is set to begin about Feb. 1; it will be under the command of the district Coast Guard office at St. Louis and will provide two courses, one for deck officers and one for machinists' mates, with a period of eight weeks of intensive training.

1918

Cape Girardeau saloon keepers are laughing at State Fuel Administrator Wallace Crossley's coal-conservation orders; he has ordered all saloons in Missouri to close no later than 10 every night; however, Friday night all saloons in Cape Girardeau remained open until midnight as usual; also in violation of Crossley's orders, they opened at 6 the next morning, rather than 7 a.m.

Complying with the order to conserve coal, four Cape Girardeau churches hold a union service at First Baptist Church; those congregations taking part are the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and Christian.

-- Sharon K. Sanders