Out of the past: Jan. 4

1997

Old Man Winter has been locked up in Canada for the majority of the past three weeks, but he is expected to get out today; meteorologists say the unseasonably warm weather the region has enjoyed this week will end with the arrival of more seasonal temperatures as early as this afternoon; record high temperatures have been set this week all across the Plains and parts of the Midwest and South.

While the number of arrests from marijuana eradication efforts in Missouri nearly doubled in 1996, Southeast Missouri saw arrest numbers decrease significantly, the Missouri Highway Patrol says; there were 1,621 Missouri arrests in 1996, almost twice as many as in 1995, when 884 people were arrested; just 19 of last year's arrests occurred in Southeast Missouri; in 1995, 51 Southeast Missouri arrests were made.

1972

Winter's first major blast of the new year has Southeast Missouri and southern Illinois in its icy grip; schools are closing and nighttime meetings and sports events are canceled as driving becomes hazardous; early morning rain gives way to sleet and snow, as the icy storm makes its way through the area; the weather forecast is for extremely cold temperatures tonight and snowfall ending.

The first race in Cape Girardeau County's 1972 elections has developed with the filing of two Republican candidates for associate judge of County Court from District 1; seeking the post are John Howard of Millersville and incumbent Edwin W. Sander; both filed yesterday to create a race in the August Republican primary.

1947

Marshall W. Hamil of St. Louis has purchased the Illmo Jimplicute, a weekly newspaper, and assumed management of it; he bought the publication from David Marshall and his father, L.T. Marshall, who purchased it in June 1940 from Helen Louise Purcell; Purcell had published the paper following the death of her father, E.L. Purcell, who established the Jimp in 1914.

Temperatures skid to 15 degrees above zero in Cape Girardeau for the lowest mark of the season, but even colder weather may be in store for tonight as the cold wave moves southward; a light covering of snow accompanies the frigid temperatures, but isn't enough to impede traffic.

1922

Reduction of 10%, in addition to the taking off of the 3% war tax on all freight shipments from point to point, on grain, hay, livestock, fruits, vegetables, cotton, butter, eggs and poultry has been announced by the Frisco Railroad, according to freight agent G.H. Bennett; the reduction goes into effect today; however, no reduction of rates on merchandise or other commodities shipped into Cape Girardeau has been announced.

The Cape Girardeau County Court at Jackson accepts the offer of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Missouri Health Service to establish health work in the county; the court votes $1,500 for the work, the remainder of the money needed to be furnished by the Red Cross and by popular subscription.

-- Sharon K. Sanders