Out of the past: July 7

1995

WENTZVILLE, Mo. -- Jami Talley, 18, of Cape Girardeau was cold and wet and looking for refuge from the rain during the huge party Wednesday that followed his first Grateful Dead concert; he stood beneath a tent and watched as a wooden deck collapsed, injuring more than 100 fans at a campground west of St. Louis; chaos followed as people tried to remove debris and rescue people.

William E. Port of Cape Girardeau was recently installed as district governor of Rotary District 6090 at the regular meeting of the Cape Girardeau West Rotary Club; Port will be responsible for the 37 Rotary clubs in the district, which covers the southeastern part of Missouri, from Arnold to Steele to West Plains.

1970

A referendum on the city's new low-rent housing ordinance will be submitted to Cape Girardeau voters Aug. 4; the decision to call the election and settling the date is made in a special meeting of the City Council and follows a report of city clerk Verna Lee Landis, who said the registrar had examined referendum petitions seeking the repeal of the new ordinance and found they contained sufficient qualified signatures to require the election.

Approximately $1,000 in cash and checks are taken from the Ramada Inn, Interstate 55 and William Street, during an early morning holdup; the lone gunman walks into the motel between 2:20 and 2:40, pulls a revolver from his pocket and hustles desk clerk Steve C. Enderle and night porter James A. McCulley into a men's restroom, where he handcuffs them to a pipe; he then takes cash and checks from the cash register at the desk and a money pouch that was to be deposited.

1945

Those waiting for installation of telephones in their homes will have to wait a little longer; until V-J Day, the war in the Pacific has a priority on workers and materials; at present, Southeast Missouri Telephone Co. is fulfilling requests for telephones made last fall; there are about 260 requests on the waiting list; there are now 5,624 telephones in use in Cape Girardeau.

Capable of holding food to the equivalent of 500 fat hogs, the Philips & Co. locker plant, 207 Broadway, is to open within a week; there are 504 lockers, plus 25 commercial chill cages and some additional space in the building.

1920

At a hearing of the Missouri Public Service Commission in Jefferson City on Tuesday, the Frisco Railroad offered to do the local shipping and switching for the Cape Girardeau Northern Railroad in Cape Girardeau and at Jackson at actual cost; the C.G.N. stopped operating at Cape Girardeau and Jackson several weeks ago, prompting the commission hearing.

Harvesting of the 1920 honey crop has begun in Cape Girardeau County; made purely from white clover, the crop is unequaled in quality this year, but the quantity isn't large.

-- Sharon K. Sanders