Out of the past: June 10

1996

If all goes according to plan, by the end of next year most of Cape Girardeau County's official paperwork will be shredded; there's no cover-up, corruption or scandal; the official documents and other county paperwork are simply being transferred to computer disk in order to save space; in some cases up to 5,000 pages a day are finding their way to various rooms in the county courthouse and administration building, where they've been stacking up for years.

Ford Groves Motor Co. is taking on a new look at Jackson; construction has started on a $300,000 showroom facility at the company's Jackson site, 825 E. Highway 61; the Jackson Ford Groves site opened in 1986.

1971

Rep. A. Robert Pierce Jr., R-Cape Girardeau, left, debates Missouri's money woes with Democratic Gov. Warren E. Hastings, right. KFVS taped the debate June 9, 1971, and aired it that evening. Serving as moderator was KFVS's Don McNeely, center. (Southeast Missourian archive)

In a televised debate last night, Missouri Gov. Warren E. Hearnes, a Democrat, and Rep. A. Robert Pierce Jr., R-Cape Girardeau, exchanged potent potshots, but shed little light on the state's money woes; Pierce accused the Hearnes administration of practicing "shoe box" financing that confuses Missourians, while Hearnes said Pierce likes to make people believe he is an authority on finance but really doesn't understand the state's revenue system.

The City of Cape Girardeau and three of its officials have been ordered to issue a building permit previously denied an applicant, John H. Freeze and others, or to appear in Common Pleas Court June 23 to show cause for the refusal; Judge W. Osler Statler gives the order in an alternative writ of mandamus issued at the request of Mr. and Mrs. Freeze and J.P. Streett and Co. Inc., Realtors suing in the name of the State of Missouri; the petitioners seek the permit for construction of a service station and car wash on two lots on the northwest corner of William and South Benton streets.

1946

Without a ripple and its traffic undiminished, operation of the Mississippi River traffic bridge is in the hands of the Cape Special Road District, the third owner of the span since it was built 18 years ago; formal actual transfer took place at 11:15 a.m. Saturday in a quiet paper-signing in St. Louis; the road district paid $2,370,000 for the bridge.

The County Court makes plans to comply with the new Missouri law allowing women to serve on juries; it is possible the first women may be called in the September drawing of Circuit Court or the November draw for Common Pleas Court; the County Court will have published in county papers Thursday a form to be filled out by all women of the county who wish to serve and who are eligible; the completed forms will be returned to the County Court, and the names will be added to the jury lists.

1921

BOSTON, Mass. -- The Browns of St. Louis trimmed the Red Sox properly yesterday afternoon, winning the third game of the series, 9-3; Cape Girardeau's Elam Vangilder pitched a fine game for the Browns.

An interesting antique, a framed drawing of the Cape Girardeau riverfront as it existed in 1858, together with the homes of prominent men of that time and main business houses, is in the possession of Otto Frederick, jeweler on lower Independence Street and an old Cape Girardeau resident.

-- Sharon K. Sanders