Out of the past: July 19

1996

About 20 people attended a presentation last night featuring detailed descriptions of improvements the Jackson Board of Education would like to accomplish if a $7.8 million bond issue passes Aug. 6; the money, which would raise property taxes about $26 a year on a house with an assessed valuation of $70,000, would be used to construct a 44,500-square-foot elementary school on the southeast side of town, a math and science building at the Jackson High School campus, and add about 14,212 square feet of classrooms to North Elementary School.

Agents of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service will descend on some area businesses next week to check records and look for possible violations in the hiring of illegal aliens; Michael Heston, INS director of operations in Kansas and Missouri, says there is enough of a problem in the Cape Girardeau, Poplar Bluff and Sikeston, Missouri, areas to warrant the four-day visit.

1971

Gordonville Mayor Charles Skelton and Town Councilman Edward Birk request Cape Girardeau County Court to reconsider its action of last Thursday cutting off CART gasoline tax funds to small towns; Skelton explains Gordonville has been working on street development for the past three years and hoped to complete its project this year; Gordonville would be eligible for $437 from the county under the gasoline tax-sharing program that has been in effect the past several years.

The board of directors of Farmers and Merchants Bank announce application has been made to the commissioner of finance of Missouri and to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to move its main banking facility from the present location at 701 Good Hope St. to 2011 William St.; selection of an architect will be made in the near future to design the new main banking facility to be located on the west side tract.

1946

Judge J. Henry Caruthers, the only civil authority in the county who can perform a marriage ceremony, had his first couple to be wed yesterday at noon -- two young people from Gale, Illinois; the judge, who before this had only performed one marriage ceremony since ascending to the bench, that a couple of months ago for personal friends, became the only civil marriage source through a new law preventing justices of the peace from reading the rites.

Cape Girardeau police and Illinois officers, narrowly missing capture of a boat thief, recovered a stolen river boat and three outboard motors here yesterday; the boat, one of two that had been stolen earlier in the day at Chester, Illinois, was abandoned at the Illinois shore after the suspect brushed with officers on this side of the river.

1921

Trainmen arriving in Cape Girardeau announce heavy rains throughout Southeast Missouri and bring the news leading farmers say the corn crop has been made; it rained yesterday afternoon from Chaffee to Caruthersville, and this morning it rains over about the same territory; Cape Girardeau has yet to be blessed with a shower, although the rest of the county has been.

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Frank Hines calls attention to provisions of a new law, regulating the sale and possession of firearms; this law provides retailers may not sell any pistol or any firearm that can be concealed about the person to anyone not having a permit to purchase such a pistol or firearm; this permit must be obtained from the circuit clerk and costs 50 cents; the permits are issued only to persons the sheriff knows are of good character and of lawful age.

-- Sharon K. Sanders