Out of the past: July 10

1998

Three Cape Girardeau City Council members -- Mayor Al Spradling III and Councilmen Tom Neumeyer and Melvin Gateley -- are willing to consider putting a tax measure before voters in November to help fund Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus project; meanwhile, Cape Girardeau County commissioners say the proposed project is a great idea, but the county hasn't been asked to participate in its funding.

English professor Dean Monahan says Southeast Missouri State University refused to promote him and denied him merit pay because of his opposition to curriculum changes; Monahan has filed a lawsuit against the university, naming the regents as defendants.

1973

Dr. Charles T. Herbert, a Cape Girardeau pediatrician, says he will ask Judge Stanley A. Grimm to call a grand jury for an extensive investigation of the Cape Girardeau public school system; Herbert's call for a grand jury centers upon the school board's decision to retain the trimester scheduling system, as well as rumors of what he calls "subterfuge, secret meetings ... accounts being juggled ... misstatements, methods of hiring teachers, intimidation of other teachers."

First there was too much rain -- and much, too much, flooding -- and now there isn't enough for Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois farmers; corn, which in some places is 15 inches high, is beginning to shrivel from lack of rain; soybeans, which farmers have been planting for the past few weeks, are sprouting and growing, but that growth is slowed because of lack of moisture.

1948

Southeast Missourian archive

Southeast Missourian archive

Forerunner of what is expected to be a bumper peach crop, some of the early varieties of the fruit is being picked and are on the market; harvest of the main crop is expected to start in August; in Cape Girardeau County, Red Havens are being sold and will be joined next week by Golden Jubilees.

The west entrance to Arena Park, recently fenced off to divert traffic to a new road farther south, has been re-opened by the city for automobile and pedestrian use after considerable objections to the closure by residents of the Rodney Vista area; a culvert to carry water alongside the road bordering the west edge of the park has been placed and concrete blocks laid to define its two ends; the remainder of the fence has been allowed to stand.

1923

The Missouri Pacific Railroad is making preparations to handle 900 cars of watermelons on its main line and branches, according to J.L. Kendall, a Southeast Missouri division superintendent; the crop will start moving the latter part of this month or early part of August.

E.M. Abernathy announces he will open a day and night school, to be known as the Southeast Missouri School of Commerce and Finance, on Sept. 4; he will locate in the old hospital building on South Sprigg Street at William Street; standard courses such as stenography, bookkeeping and combined office work will be offered; Mrs. Abernathy will assist her husband, and one other teacher will also be employed.

-- Sharon K. Sanders