Out of the past: Jan. 21

1997

One of the five barges that broke loose from a towboat Monday struck the Mississippi River bridge here; officials say the bridge wasn't damaged; the other four barges floated under the bridge before they were corralled; the Midwest Explorer, owned by Midwest Marine Management in St. Louis, hit a sandbar with its load of grain at about 1:15 p.m. while traveling south; that caused a cable holding five of its 20 barges to break loose.

People in Southeast Missouri will have an opportunity to watch $1 billion of Russian space technology race across the sky, when the space station Mir is visible Friday, Sunday and Tuesday; Dr. Michael Cobb, chairman of the physics department at Southeast Missouri State University, says Mir will look like "a bright star moving across the sky."

1972

Jackson Mayor Paul J. Leonard has jumped into Missouri's boiling political pot as a non-partisan candidate for governor; Leonard filed Tuesday in Jefferson City, where he had been attending a conference of the Missouri Municipal League; a political independent, Leonard says his platform hasn't been formalized; he will form a statewide campaign organization in about three weeks.

Cape Girardeau Police Lt. W.G. "Dub" Wilson was elected president of Southeast Missouri Peace Officers Association yesterday; approximately 40 law enforcement officers attended the quarterly meeting at the Jackson American Legion Hall.

1947

The Cape Girardeau City Council stood pat yesterday on its new ordinance requiring intercity and interstate bus companies to move their terminals from Broadway and other busy streets; Elmer A. Strom, local attorney for the Greyhound Line, told the council his company doesn't want to move immediately from its Ellis-Broadway location, saying it's lease on the building has some time yet to run; but council members, who contend the matter has been discussed for two years, gave no indication of relenting.

Ferd N. Sturm of Dexter, Missouri, formerly of Cape Girardeau, will return here this week to take up his duties as a state probation and parole officer in this district; he will share office space temporarily with C.G. McClintock, court reporter, in the H.-H. Building.

1922

Farmers of the Egypt Mills and Neelys Landing community, while visiting Cape Girardeau, discuss the plans of the county to build a bridge over Juden Creek, three miles north of this city; they support construction of the bridge and are asking that a double-track bridge -- one that will allow cars and wagons to pass on the span without trouble -- be built.

The slippery conditions of Cape Girardeau streets account for several accidents yesterday and today; along with a number of automobile accidents, Lyman Dale, son of Mr. and Mrs. A.J. Dale of Cape Girardeau, suffers a cracked collar bone when a sled on which he is coasting down the hill on Luce Street crashes into a tree; Norbert Foster, 16-year-old son of F.P. Foster, sustained a badly sprained knee and bruises on his leg, when a sled he was riding crashed into a tree on Ellis Street, near the corner of Broadway.

-- Sharon K. Sanders