Out of the past: July 31

1994

The Southeast Missourian begins a four-day series of articles examining crime, drugs and gangs in Sikeston, Missouri.

From the time Cape Girardeau police officer Dan Niswonger lost control of his police motorcycle, struck a curb and was thrown into a nearby guy wire, the community has provided its support; to date, private donations and money raised for the family by civic groups, organizations and churches total more than $25,000; also about 50 area police officers and firefighters put a new roof on the Niswonger house in May.

1969

In formal ceremonies in the morning at Cape Girardeau Public Library, Earlene Busch of Boulder, Colorado, presents the library a sculpture as a memorial to her husband, Capt. Elwin H. Busch, who was killed in Vietnam on June 9, 1967; the sculpture by Kent Sivers, a widely-recognized artist who teaches at the University of Colorado, is titled "Poised Flight."

BENTON, Mo. -- About 60 Scott County farmers, most of them operators of small farms in the northern portion of the county, decided in a meeting here last night to fight the recent $7 million increase in property assessments; the week-old Scott County Taxpayers Association moved to employ two Sikeston, Missouri, attorneys, John Hux and James Green, to put its case before the Scott County Court.

1944

CHESTER, Ill. -- An investigation is underway by the U.S. Army Engineers and the Coast Guard to determine the cause of the collapse during a Saturday night storm of the Mississippi River bridge linking Chester and Claryville, Missouri; the 2-year-old, $1,385,000 span toppled 80 feet into the river, leaving standing only the steel and concrete approaches on both sides of the stream.

An application has been filed with the War Production Board by the Foursquare Church for a permit to obtain materials with which to construct the basement part of a church building at the northeast corner of Bloomfield Street and Park Avenue; the lot was secured by the congregation prior to the war and, after starting excavation for the basement, the construction program was dropped.

1919

At a meeting last night of the SEMO Baseball League at Illmo, manager Will Malone of Sikeston offered his resignation as manager of that team and also as vice president of the league; both resignations were accepted; Tom Malone will succeed him as manager of the Sikeston club, and Horace A. Boon of Charleston was chosen vice president.

The extremely hot weather gets a jolt at 2 p.m. when a thunder shower and strong wind come along, making things happen for an hour or so; it is a regular gully-washer of rain, the paved streets being like flooded streams rushing to the river; the temperature drops from 100 degrees at noon, the hottest for the season, to 74 after the rain.

-- Sharon K. Sanders