Out of the past: Jan. 5

1998

The Gibson Recovery Center, Inc., has temporarily withdrawn its request to operate a halfway house program because two Cape Girardeau City Council members serve on an advisory committee for the center; with both Councilman Melvin Gateley and Mayor Al Spradling III on the committee, the request was withdrawn because it was unclear whether their membership on the committee would constitute a financial conflict.

It is announced that MedAmerica HealthNet Inc. is dissolving; the network of some 250 physicians and six hospitals in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois will no longer exist come March 1; the physician hospital organization became partners with Alliance Blue Cross Blue Shield to offer HealthNet Blue to about 15,000 policy holders in 1994.

1973

Authorities say they suspect arson in a fire that heavily damaged the office of B and M Motors Inc., 2002 Independence St., early this morning, but discount any connection between that blaze and the one that destroyed the Cape Girardeau Civic Center on Tuesday night; when firefighters responded to the auto sales business at 2:02 a.m., they found two separate fires, and the smell of fuel was prevalent.

If the St. Louis football Cardinals decide to accept Southeast Missouri State University's bid to use the school's facilities for a summer training camp, they'll know they are welcome in Cape Girardeau; already in the hands of Big Red officials is a letter from Mayor Howard C. Tooke, extending an invitation, urging the Cardinals to give utmost consideration to Cape Girardeau as the training site.

1948

Fire of unknown origin destroys the Hillcrest Tavern on Highway 61, three miles northwest of Cape Girardeau at 2 a.m.; two dogs in the basement of the building perish; Frank Mollenhour, who with Calvin Vogelsang, had the building leased from the owner, John Davis, estimates the loss on the fixtures to be $1,500 and on the furniture and clothing in the rear of the building to be $500; Davis cannot estimate the loss on the building; Mollenhour's mother, Mrs. Winslow Ross, lived in the building and with her husband managed the business; both were in St. Louis at the time of the fire.

Arthur John Kennedy of St. Louis, a graduate of the Tuskegee Institute and during the war a vocational instructor in trade schools of St. Louis, was the guest speaker at a dedication ceremony yesterday for the new Lincoln School at Jackson; this morning, Black children go to school there for the first time; the school is under the direction of Mr. and Ms. Ralph Smith; it was erected by Penzel Construction Co. at a cost of about $16,000; it consists of the basement auditorium seating 107, two classrooms, cloak room, library, office and two restrooms.

1923

Arguments on the appeal of the murder case of Luther Little of Cape Girardeau, who is serving a long term in the state penitentiary at Jefferson City for the shooting of Cape Girardeau night patrolman Willis Martin, will be heard before the Supreme Court on Jan. 17.

Edward F. Regenhardt leaves for Poplar Bluff, Missouri, where he has large paving contracts; after a short stay there, he will proceed to Washington, D.C., and will visit his son, Will, and family before returning home.

-- Sharon K. Sanders