Out of the past: July 29

1999

A proposed casino on the Diversion Channel likely won’t float; the site proposed for a Lady Luck casino near Interstate 55 and the Rhodes Travel Center is more than two miles from the Mississippi River and that apparently doesn’t comply with the boats-in-moats measure approved by Missouri voters last November.

A half-dozen giant storage tanks have been set in place at the BioKyowa Inc. L-lysine plant in Nash Road Industrial Park; the tanks — each about 50 feet long, 21 feet in diameter and weighing more than 150,000 pounds — were moved through the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority by Girardeau Stevedores to trucks that hauled them to BioKyowa as part of the company’s $35 million expansion of its agriculture feed-supplement plant.

1974

At a congregational meeting yesterday following morning worship services, the members of First Presbyterian Church present unanimously vote to purchase the adjoining Chamber of Commerce Building on Broadway; purchase price was announced as $20,000; Dr. John T. Crowe, a member of the church and on its board of deacons, recently acquired the property from the Chamber; the building will be razed, and tentative plans call for a lawn in front and a playground in the rear for the church nursery.

There will be only one contest on the county level at the Aug. 6 primary election, which thus far has stimulated little interest; the only race to be decided is between Clarence C. Schade and Gerald L. Ainsworth, Republican candidates who hope to unseat longtime County Clerk Rusby C. Crites, a Democrat.

1949

Percy R. Little of Cape Girardeau has been promoted to sergeant by the State Highway Patrol, effective next Monday; Little will have charge of troopers in the Cape Girardeau and Perryville zones; he is one of 24 Patrol officers assigned to this part of the state, the Troop E territory; Little started with the Patrol soon after it was organized, beginning his duties in November 1932.

It can be said truthfully that Missouri’s Golden Troopers have lots of brass; by actual count, the buglers in the American Legion drum and bugle corps outnumber the percussionists by a two-to-one margin; the resurrected organization will make its official debut to the public this evening at Houck Stadium, with a full dress rehearsal of its contest routine.

1924

Cape Girardeau has the second highest infant mortality rate of any of the 13 larger cities in Missouri, according to a report published by the American Child Association of New York City; during 1923, 104 out of every 1,000 children under 1 year of age died, according to the report; only Hannibal has a higher mortality rate of the larger cities in the state.

George H. Hasslinger, president of the local chapter of the Izaak Walton League, is opposed to the plan of the Lions Club “mosquito committee” of placing crude oil in the lagoon at Fairground Park to destroy the mosquitoes; Hasslinger points out the oil would also kill the fish in the pond; the league, Hassling says, has plans to improve the lagoon; it is hoped to clean it out some time in the near future and then stock it with game fish from the state fish hatcheries.

Southeast Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders compiles the information for the daily Out of the Past column. She also writes a blog called “From the Morgue” that showcases interesting historical stories from the newspaper. Check out her blog at www.semissourian.com/history.