Out of the past: July 13

1994

Cape Girardeau County sheriff's deputies and agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms spent Tuesday chasing a stream of reports from area residents who discovered homemade explosive devices in their mailboxes; a total of seven reports of bombs, about half of which had detonated, have come into the department since Monday morning.

The Jackson School District is cracking down on delinquent behavior among its junior and senior high school students; the school board yesterday approved changes in the student discipline code that affect students who fight, threaten teachers or other school employees, or are caught with drugs or alcohol; the changes bring together the policies at both schools.

1969

The Rev. William D. Tabor is the new pastor of Scriptural Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau; the congregation meets at Vandeven Hall, 833 Broadway, for worship each Sunday morning; Tabor graduated July 1 from the Martin Luther Institute of Sacred Studies in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Cape Girardeau residents continue to swelter in the heat as the mercury holds fast to readings in the high 90s; both yesterday and today the high mark was 97 degrees, and there's little relief in sight; it has been an extremely hot summer so far, the thermometer registering in the 90s most of the past 30 days, and over the 100-degree mark five days, three in late June.

1944

Prevailing dry weather, broken only slightly by spotty local showers, is beginning to damage corn crops, while cotton is faring nicely in the district; rainfall has been light throughout the district since June 1, and the hot weather is taking a heavy toll on gardens and pastures.

Pvt. Leo Pletcher, 18, has been killed in action in the Pacific theater of the war, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Leo Pletcher of Cape Girardeau, were informed last night by telegram from Lt. Gen. A.A. Vandergrift, commanding general of the Marine Corps; young Pletcher enlisted in the Marines eight months ago following his graduation from Cape Girardeau Central High School.

1919

About the most popular place in Cape Girardeau in the afternoon and evening is the municipal swimming pool at Fairground Park; hundreds of people, hoping to combat 99-degree temperatures, enjoy plunges in the pool, while other hundreds watch the splashers and divers in their gyrations.

Lorene B. Carroll, who has been in France 11 months as a Red Cross nurse in the service of the United States, arrived here yesterday to spend some time visiting her mother and sister; she hasn't yet received her discharge and isn't fully decided whether she will return to the service or not.

-- Sharon K. Sanders