Out of the past: Jan. 20

1996

Authorities rescued nearly 200 dogs Wednesday from a feces-covered Southeast Missouri "puppy mill" where sick or unbreedable dogs were put in pens to die and where a large ditch filled with dead animals was found; the dogs were brought to the Cape Girardeau Humane Society, where about 100 diseased dogs were euthanized; the rest are available for adoption.

A Bernie, Missouri, man's alleged attempt at corporate espionage ended this week with his arrest by police and FBI agents; the 34-year-old man is being held in the Cape Girardeau County Jail after allegedly stealing electrical and mechanical schematics and other information from Procter & Gamble and trying to sell the documents to a competitor.

1971

The board of the Cape Girardeau Civic Center has instructed its building committee to start work on the long-planned concrete block addition costing $18,000 to the center's overcrowded building at 1232 S. Ranney St.; the project includes a 26-foot-by-40-foot multipurpose room, storage, plumbing, heating, equipment and replacement of playground space over which it will be built; much of the work will be done by volunteers.

In the not to distant future, Girardeans with a special love for the Mississippi River may be able to relax on a bench behind the floodwall between Themis and Broadway and watch the water roll by; preliminary steps toward stopping automobile traffic on the upper level behind the seawall between these two streets and developing the site into a rest and recreation area is being discussed by the Main Street Levee District.

1946

Honoring four members who will retire Feb. 1 from 39 to 41 years of service, the Telephone Pioneers of America, members of the Southeast Missouri Telephone Co., held a testimonial dinner last night at Colonial Tavern; honored were C. Bern Looney of Jackson, Jeff Book of Malden, Missouri, Jim Myers of New Madrid, Missouri, and Isaac McNeece of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri.

"The Story of Jesus" is dramatized by a cast of 50 singers and other characters in the evening at Grace Methodist Church in a repeat presentation; Mrs. Miles H. Stotts is director.

1921

August Penzel of Jackson is thrown from a runaway horse he is riding in the morning, his head striking a concrete curbing and cutting a 3-inch wound in his scalp; Constable Casy Ransom, who just returned to Jackson from Burfordville and witnesses the accident, places Penzel in his auto and rushes him to the office of Dr. J.J. Mayfield in Jackson, who examines Penzel and dresses the wound.

Four stores formerly owned by the bankrupt firm of Minnen & Feinberg of St. Louis -- two of them in Cape Girardeau, one at Point Pleasant, Missouri, and the other at Marston, Missouri -- were sold at public auction earlier this week; Sample Shoe Store here was sold to Maurice Shaltupsky of San Antonio, Texas, for $7,000; the clothing store at 38 Main St. was bought by L. Segal of this city for $3,175.

-- Sharon K. Sanders