Out of the past: July 8

1992

After nearly six months of deliberation, the Convention and Visitors Bureau Advisory Board is apparently ready to recommend to the Cape Girardeau City Council how best to spend reserve city tourism funds; without taking formal action, the board yesterday reached a consensus that a sports complex combining the best components of two separate proposals would be the best use of the funds.

After a 32-year career with the Cape Girardeau Fire Department, 28 in a supervisory capacity, Fire Chief Gene Hindman will take off his chief's shield and retire Oct. 1; Hindman notified City Manager J. Ronald Fischer of his decision to retire in a letter Monday.

1967

The new commanders of the Cape Girardeau Salvation Army post, 215 Broadway, are Capts. Ralph and Bonnie Spicer from Columbia, Missouri; they succeed Capt. Richard E. Crane, who still lives in Cape Girardeau; Crane is no longer associated with the Salvation Army, but is doing evangelical work on his own.

The Missouri Utilities Co. here, looking ahead to the day when Cape Girardeau's population reaches 50,000, has embarked on a construction program which will increase the city's water output by 150 percent; in the next two or three years, the company will spend around $150,000 building a new settling basin and clarifier, installing two new high-service pumps and replacing old wiring and switching gear.

1942

Effective at 5 p.m., City Commissioner R.E. Beckman becomes acting mayor of Cape Girardeau, succeeding Mayor Hinkle Statler, who has been ordered to report to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire to start training in the Navy; Statler plans to leave here Sunday; yesterday, having received orders, Statler asked the City Council for a leave of absence for the remaining half of his four-year term, and this was granted.

In connection with a projected rally to stimulate the sale of war bonds and stamps, Young Tarzan of Hollywood -- John Sheffield -- is to be here for an appearance on July 21; details of the visit will be announced shortly, according to Roy Cato, manager of the Broadway Theater.

1917

The Rev. Dr. J.C. Maple, dean of Baptist ministers in Missouri, preaches the same sermon he delivered in the old Baptist Church of Cape Girardeau 60 years ago; he delivers the sermon, titled "My Lamp," during the morning worship service at First Baptist Church; Maple first preached that sermon on July 5, 1857; it was his first sermon in Cape Girardeau, and he was just one week out of college.

The Wielpuetz Bakery in Haarig is threatened by fire in the morning; bakery employees, however, notice smoke emanating from the bake room and fight the flames with chemical extinguishers until they are put out.

-- Sharon K. Sanders