Out of the past: July 12

1994

A U.S. Department of Agriculture reorganization plan is expected to go to the full House next week; the bill calls for reorganizing field offices of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, Farmers Home Administration and Soil Conservation service, which would result in the closing of hundreds of offices.

The Cape Girardeau Sheriff's Department is assisting the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in an investigation of two explosive devices discovered in mailboxes in the county; the first was reported Monday morning near Nell Holcomb School on Highway 177; the device exploded and damaged a mailbox in front of the main school building; the second bomb was found in a mailbox along County Road 645.

1969

The Mississippi River continues its rapid rise at Cape Girardeau, where a number of families have been forced from their homes, 58 of whom spent the night in the Arena Building; thousands of acres of farmland along the river in Missouri and Illinois are under water, despite efforts of farmers and others to make levees hold.

Lake Boutin in Trail of Tears State Park is closed to swimming by the State Park Board after tests on the lake's water revealed it to be polluted; the decision to stop swimming at the lake was made unanimously by the board in a meeting yesterday at Poplar Bluff, Missouri.

1944

There was some relief in Cape Girardeau during the night and early this morning from the intense heat and dry weather of the past three weeks; a light shower, amounting to 9-100ths of an inch, fell during the night and was accompanied by cooling breezes; yesterday's high of 98 degrees equaled the season's record.

The N.O. Nelson Co. of St. Louis, manufacturers and wholesalers of plumbing supplies and heating equipment, has signed a long-term lease on a building at the southeast corner of Morgan Oak and South Sprigg streets owned by L.F. Brenneissen; the firm plans to establish a wholesale warehouse and distributing branch here.

1919

A calamity was narrowly averted yesterday afternoon when a storm struck the Chautauqua tent in which a large crowd was waiting for the beginning of the afternoon performance; when the canvas of the large tent began to rip under the lashing of the storm, and boards and things began to fly about, the crowd left the tent just in time to get away before it collapsed.

Floyd C. Tinsley, son of C.E. Tinsley, has returned home to Cape Girardeau after spending 15 months abroad with the American forces; he was a member of the 6th Cavalry and spent more than two years in service, being on the Mexican border for one year before sailing for France.

-- Sharon K. Sanders