Out of the past: Jan. 20

1997

"Education is still the best spaceship to your dreams," says Dr. Charles I. Rankin, keynote speaker at the 12th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast; the event is the first in a series of local events commemorating the King holiday; planning committee co-chairman Debra Mitchell-Braxton says approximately 500 Southeast Missouri State University personnel and others attended the breakfast.

David F. Stoverink, formerly of Jackson, will assume duties as associate judge in the Ninth Judicial Circuit in Illinois next month; he is a partner in the law firm of Capps, Ancelet, Stoverink and Clark in Carthage, Illinois; he was recently selected to fill a vacancy in the office of associate judge, starting Feb. 18.

1972

Although an order granting Missouri Utilities Co. an increase in electric rates became effective Dec. 29, Cape Girardeau will pursue further its intervention in the case; the City Council has authorized City Attorney Howard C. Wright Jr. to appeal Cape Girardeau's motion for a rehearing on the order and City Manager W.G. Lawley to bring the issue before the federal price commission.

JEFFERSON CITY -- The possibility of changing the name of Cape Girardeau's college to Southeast Missouri State University took a step closer to reality following Senate Higher Education Committee approval of a bill Wednesday; the bill would allow each of the state colleges to change its name to university.

1947

In an effort to make his tenant move from a small house in Cape Girardeau, the house's owner started to remove part of the roof; the tenant, a woman, appealed to Mayor R.E. Beckman and Commissioner Phil Steck over the weekend; finally, city firemen covered the de-roofed spots with tarpaulins as temporary protection from the elements.

The Kruss Motor Co., Sprigg Street and Independence Street, has been granted a city permit to rebuild a storage building and shop which was badly damaged by fire early this winter; a concrete floor will be made, and concrete blocks will be utilized in wall construction; the new shop, like the old, will be one story high; cost of the 24-by-24-foot building will be around $500.

1922

Thieves last night broke into a storage house in the rear of the residence of William F. Beckman, 625 Bellevue, and took clothes valued at around $100; the door of the storage house is found unlocked by Mrs. Beckman this morning; the door had been opened with a key.

Representatives of the congregation of St. Mary's Catholic Church have purchased the lot and buildings adjoining the church property to the south; the purchase was made from Robert Baumann of St. Louis; the lot is 71 feet wide and approximately 150 feet in length; it has two buildings on it, one occupied by Exide Battery Station as a garage and the other by a cigar factory conducted by Gus Maurer.

-- Sharon K. Sanders