Out of the past: July 15

1991

A straw vote of registered voters in Bollinger County asking whether they wanted to vote on the Cape Girardeau-Bollinger County lake issue is tallied in the morning; it shows 553 opposed to the 7,700-acre recreational lake and 193 in favor; in light of the results, it appears the lake effort is at an end.

The Cape Girardeau City Council endorses a plan to place a county-wide "Enhanced 911" telephone system on the November ballot; it would allow dispatchers to trace the origin of incoming calls instantly.

1966

Except for isolated areas fortunate enough to be in the path of regular thunderstorms, Southeast Missouri is facing a critical agricultural situation; heat and drought have joined together for a two-fisted assault on corn, cotton, soybeans, pastures, cattle and the people who depend on them to live.

Cape Girardeau County Court and members of the County Park Board have issued a call for volunteers to help plan improvements to Klaus Park, a part of the County Farm; the court has been urging the park board to accomplish some development of the park so it can be dedicated this fall.

1941

Postmaster Nat M. Snider and Mayor Hinkle Statler said they have received no word about progress on the Cape Girardeau post-office building project, discounting a rumor the $430,000 job has been shelved for the present; there is a report the government has decided to delay that project, along with some other non-defense jobs.

Erection of brick walls for the new building on Spanish Street, just north of Independence Street, to house the A. & P. supermarket, has been started; structural steel also has been moved to the site, and all concrete work on the big building has been completed.

1916

A large crowd attends the opening of the Nussbaum closing-out sale; fully 400 people are lined up on the sidewalk and in the street, waiting for the doors to open in the morning; the store can't accommodate all the shoppers, and the doors are opened and closed at intervals to let out those who have made their purchases and let new customers in.

The steamer Cape Girardeau carries a large crowd of local people on its afternoon trip to Commerce, Missouri; among the younger folks excursioning are Ramona Duckworth, Evelyn Joslyn, Marie and Marcia Patton, Alice Griffith, Hortense Hancock, Opal O'Brien, Russell Deal, Leslie Mitchell, Barrett Whitelaw, Leslie Patton and Gene Ruff.

-- Sharon K. Sanders