Out of the past: July 24

1994

Melvin "Spankee" Rogers, co-star of the new "Saved by the Bell: The New Class" television series, signed autographs and promoted Cape Girardeau's Black Family Reunion yesterday at West Park Mall; in addition, dancer John Guilliam and duet Brothers With Flav were at the mall offering a boost to the reunion, planned for Aug. 12 to 14 at Arena Park.

The first phase of the Jackson Rotary Lake renovation project should be completed early this week; approximately 13,000 to 14,000 cubic yards of sediment have been removed from the bottom of the 3.2-acre lake bed; removal of the sediment will increase the depth of the lake 10 to 15 feet after it is refilled this winter.

1969

ABOARD USS HORNET -- The men who opened the Moon Age return safely to planet earth, steering themselves to a near-bull's-eye landing just 9 miles from this recovery ship; Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. and Michael Collins are immediately placed behind a biological barrier to prevent spread of possible lunar germs.

At a public hearing on the State Highway Department's William Street corridor plan, the city submits an alternate proposal calling for an S-curve beginning near Henderson and William streets and bending south to a point near Pacific and Morgan Oak streets; the curve, as proposed, would eliminate the need to make Sprigg and Frederick streets one-way between William and Morgan Oak.

1944

Cape Girardeau County is still $48,735 short of its E war bond quota on the Fifth War Loan Drive, according to a report from the Missouri War Finance Committee; total E bond sales in the county have amounted to $594,265, and the county's quota is $643,000.

Irma Anderson of Cape Girardeau, who for the past nine years has managed Dolly's Hat Shoppe here, has resigned her position and will open a Junior Miss Shoppe at 31 N. Main St. in August; she is in St. Louis buying fixtures for the new establishment.

1919

The ornament atop Trinity Lutheran Church tower, which was bent by the strong wind during a storm about a month ago, is being straightened by Andy Lutes of Cape Girardeau, the well-known steeple-jack; Trinity's tower reaches higher than any other building or tower in the city, and only an expert steeple-jack can be hired to work on it.

The 1919 wheat crop is greater in this section than had been expected; while the yield isn't extraordinarily large, the acreage planted is more than it has been for years; the Cape County Milling Co. is receiving thousands of bushels, with the crop coming from all parts of Southern Missouri and Western Illinois.

-- Sharon K. Sanders