Out of the past: Jan. 21

1992

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Burns and McDonnell Engineering Co. has been chosen by the Perry County Commission to conduct a feasibility study on a proposed 4,000-acre lake in the northwest part of the county; the study will evaluate the feasibility of constructing a dam on the South Fork of Saline Creek to create a lake with 74 miles of shoreline.

Cape Girardeau County Clerk Rodney Miller will be spending the next few weeks talking with people about the possibility of seeking the Democratic nomination for state senator from the 27th District; since Sen. John Dennis announced his retirement in July, Miller has received some encouragement to run for the Senate.

1967

A congressional redistricting plan which would place Cape Girardeau County and the Bootheel in the same district as Jefferson County and a part of St. Louis County isn't being favorably received by area legislators; Sen. Albert M. Spradling Jr., of Cape Girardeau says, "You have no community of interest between cotton and the city," pointing out that cotton is Missouri's largest cash crop.

Fog lessened the number of sightings of unidentified flying objects in the Cape Girardeau area last night and this morning; but for the second consecutive night, police at Cairo, Illinois, and Charleston, Missouri, report seeing UFOs at different locations near the Mississippi River.

1942

Members of the Louis K. Juden Post of the American Legion vote to delay scrapping of the ornamental cannon and other guns at Fort D, which the Legion restored, and will suggest to leaders in Southeast Missouri that other scrap metal for war purposes be moved to market before the park guns of the district are disposed of to fill war needs.

The towboat Ed C. Johnson, moving north on the river, grounds on a sandbar near Gray's Point, Missouri, a few miles south of here and loses several hours' time working its way off the bar; the Diesel-powered boat, with a heavy cargo of five loaded barges, is drawing about 8 1/2 feet of water.

1917

David S. Slinkard, an employee of the Floesch Construction Co., is electrocuted on the diversion channel about 1 1/2 miles southwest of Dutchtown in the evening; according to evidence produced at the coroner's inquest, Slinkard walked inside ropes he had put up to keep others away from the high voltage wires and then bumped into them himself.

Mrs. R.J. Carroll returns to her home in St. Louis, after visiting with Mrs. George Kimmel and family; she came down to attend the funeral of her aunt, Mrs. Emma Kimmel, at Commerce, Missouri, and remained for several days.

-- Sharon K. Sanders