Out of the past: June 2

1997

A steady rain yesterday did little to help the area dry out after a massive storm Friday night dumped as much as 5 inches of rain on some parts of Bollinger County; 12 Bollinger County houses had to be evacuated because of flooding Saturday morning; Marble Hill, Missouri, also reported the worst flooding in the area since 1982.

Construction of a flood-control retention basin has been dammed up by problems in securing the 158 acres needed for the project, Cape Girardeau city officials say; they say the basin would have lessened the problem of flash flooding experienced Friday along Cape LaCroix Creek; but court battles over securing the needed land to the north of the city in the Cape LaCroix watershed has held up the project; Mayor Al Spradling III says it could be 1999 before construction begins.

1972

D-day has been set for salvaging a portion of the old Mingo Swamp in Stoddard County as a microcosm of Southeast Missouri as it existed through the eons of time; the Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior has set June 28 for a pubic hearing to determine public interest in preserving 1,700 acres of the 21,646-acre Mingo National Wildlife Refuge in the National Wilderness Preservation System.

Nickle-plated POW-MIA bracelets such as this one for Lt. Earl Lewis Jr., formerly of Cape Girardeau, are now available for a $2.50 tax deductible donation from Lt. Cmdr. Larry L. Kinzie at the Naval Reserve Taining Center. Signing up for one here is Ivan Irvin. Southeast Missourian archive

A piece of jewelry can be worn for a lifetime, but it is the hope of Voices in Vital America (VIVA) that its POW-MIA bracelets won't have to be worn that long; the bracelets are being distributed here by Lt. Cmdr. Larry L. Kinzie of the Naval Reserve Training Center for VIVA; Kinzie has sold close to 50 since receiving them May 20; all bear the name of Lt. Earl Lewis Jr., a former Cape Girardean, and the date he became a POW, Oct. 24, 1967.

1947

Sheriff Alvin F. Klaus was nominated unanimously by the Republican County Committee at its meeting Saturday at Jackson as the Republican candidate for sheriff in the special election June 23; he was appointed sheriff last week by the County Court to succeed Herman Sewing, who was killed in an accident May 24; county Democrats will make their party's selection for that post Wednesday.

Ruth Kelso Renfrow, daughter of Judge and Mrs. I.R. Kelso of Cape Girardeau and St. Louis and wife of Dr. L.H. Renfrow, a colonel in the Dental Corps, U.S. Army, has returned from a six-week air tour of European countries; Renfrow, international secretary of foreign and territorial clubs for the General Federation of Women's Clubs, said in an interview upon her return, "Clothed in black, that's Europe today, with every woman living under conditions that you wonder how they can keep up their spirits...There is no basic food for children and medical supplies are scarce..."

1922

Helen Krueger, 16, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Krueger of Cape Girardeau, is valedictorian of the 1922 senior class of Cape Girardeau Central High School; she receives her diploma in the evening, along with 68 other graduates; Krueger plans to enter Southeast Missouri State Teachers College in the fall and prepare to teach Latin in high school.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy plan to meet Saturday afternoon at the home of Mrs. D.H. Hope, Woodlawn, in celebration of Jefferson Davis' birthday; a feature of the gathering will be the presentation of Crosses of Honor to Civil War veterans: Robert W. Beard, father of Mr. A.C. Norvell of this city; Henry M. Craft and Jacob S. Kirbey of Neelys Landing; George Foster Hunt of Caledonia, Missouri, father of Mrs. Lewis Butler of Cape Girardeau; Louis Mayer, G.B. Simpson and Daniel J. Allen of Marble Hill, Missouri, and Caswell A. Davenport of Blodgett, Missouri.

-- Sharon K. Sanders