Out of the past: July 15

1997

Calling him a "man of great polarities," Southeast Missouri State University drawing and printmaking professor Dr. Grant Lund is trying to capture the essence of William Faulkner's psyche in a mural he designed; he started painting the mural in Kent Library's third-floor hall last week; the mural will be completed before July 26 and dedicated as part of the Faulkner Centennial Celebration at Southeast Sept. 7.

More than 2,000 Union Electric customers in Cape Girardeau County were without power last night, after a storm packing intense winds swept the area; most power outages were caused by downed power lines and a few instances of lightning-related problems; the hardest hit areas were north Cape Girardeau.

1972

The latest Missouri Highway Department traffic count survey of Cape Girardeau supports what motorists here have known for years -- that Broadway traffic can be a headache; not only has Broadway traffic increased significantly in the past 25 years, but other main arteries -- Sprigg, William, Independence and Pacific -- also carry extremely high volumes of traffic for two-lane, two-way streets.

Continued improvement in the facilities of a growing city pay off for Cape Girardeau with the announcement that Municipal Airport has been selected as the launch site for a series of scientific balloon flights during September; planned by the Office of Naval Research, the flights will be under the direction of Raven Industries Inc. of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; the flights here will be unmanned, but will carry payloads of a great variety of scientific instruments for accumulation of upper atmosphere data in the study of cosmic rays, pollution, conditions pertinent to future space travel and the like.

1947

With wheat combining underway for some time, and with threshing crews swinging into general action this week in the Cape Girardeau district, a large flow of wheat is moving to market, bolstered by a moderate harvest of rye, barley and oats; the grain is of good quality, with oats exceptionally good on land unhampered by floodwaters; the conventional cooperative wheat threshing rings are getting into action; threshermen usually charge around 8 cents per bushel of wheat handled.

At a meeting of the Cape Girardeau Flood Control Commission and U.S. Engineers yesterday in St. Louis, officials with the International Shoe Co. and Frisco Railroad promised support of the formation of benefit districts, such as would be established to carry out the plan of building the proposed levee along the riverfront; the railroad would be constructed along the top of the dike, raising it an average of 7 to 7 1/2 feet above the present level of the track.

1922

Twelve hundred and sixty-six men of the 140th Infantry, Missouri National Guard, entrain in Southeast Missouri for the annual encampment to be held at Nevada, Missouri; full equipment, including rifles and tents, are taken along, and the men will be ready at an instant's notice to entrain for some other point in the state for strike duty.

Dr. W.C. Patton, 64, celebrates his birthday at a party arranged by his family; Patton has practiced medicine 41 years and came to Cape Girardeau in 1892.

-- Sharon K. Sanders