Out of the past: July 29

1998

Notre Dame High School staff members are settling into their new facility this week as contractors complete work on the 114,000-square-foot facility scheduled to open this fall; the new school occupies about 25 of the nearly 48 acres of land along Route K donated to the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese by the James and Wanda Drury Family Trust; the project, worth $6.7 million, was financed by a capital campaign and is the largest ever undertaken through the diocese.

The city of Cape Girardeau recently received the 1998 Missouri Waste Control Coalition's Outstanding Achievement Award for its curbside recycling program; the city was nominated for the award by Gary L. Gaines, director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources' Southeast Regional Office; by the end of the 1996-97 fiscal year, Cape Girardeau residents had diverted 41% of the waste material from the waste stream into the recycling program.

1973

An area once used for ball games by pupils attending the old Illmo High School last week was transformed into an outdoor worship place by an Illmo couple; old-fashioned, nondenominational prayer meetings were held last week in the backyard of the old brick school building, which shows its age and the work of vandals; Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Roth of Illmo recently purchased the building because, they say, God directed them to do so; area people preached the sermons and led the songs at the week-long event; now that the revival has ended, the Roths say they'll wait for the Lord to tell them what to do with the building.

The Rev. Frederick Schmucker of Cape Girardeau has been named director of the consortium on pastoral care related to the Illinois Conference of Churches; the group is recognized as the ecumenical agency overseeing the chaplaincy and religious programs in the institutions of the Illinois Department of Corrections, the Illinois Department of Mental Health and the Illinois Department of Children's and Family Services.

1948

Acclaimed by its maker as the first completely new car in 50 years, a rear-engined Tucker automobile will be displayed at the Arena Building Sunday by Wescoat Motor Co., agency for the new car; the Tucker is powered by a 166-horsepower, flat 6-cylinder opposed rear engine, which is less than half the weight of standard automobile engines of comparable power and performance; the Tucker is also equipped with a third, centered headlight, called the "Cyclops Eye," which turns with the steering wheel to light the way around curves.

Al Aug, superintendent of Superior Electric Products Co., verifies that a number of employees will be temporarily laid off this weekend; he says from 25 to 30 workers will be released temporarily because of a shortage of steel.

1923

The young people of Grace Methodist Church are having enjoyable times during the summer weather on the recreation yard arranged by the church adjoining the building on the south; tennis courts have been fitted up, as well as a court for volleyball; the place is a fine one on which to have church socials.

Holding a drainage district is a governmental agency and is not responsible for damages, the Missouri Supreme Court yesterday decided against farmers and property holders in their suit against the Little River Drainage District; 12 other cases in Common Pleas Court here, which have been awaiting disposition following the appeal of this test case, are expected to be dismissed.

-- Sharon K. Sanders