Out of the past: June 22

1991

Continuum '91, a three-day Star Trek convention, is being held at the Cape Girardeau Holiday Inn. Among the celebrities in attendance are Richard Arnold, research consultant for "Star Trek: The Next Generation"; John de Lancie, who plays "Q" on "Next Generation"; and Majel Barrett, who played Nurse Chapel in the original series and Lwaxana Troi in the show's newest incarnation. Barrett is also married to Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek.

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Missouri Highway and Transportation Department District 10 engineer Bob Sfreddo will resign his post here Aug. 1 to become head of the state's design department.

1966

Marvin H. Gravette, 61, of Cape Girardeau, the last principal of the John S. Cobb School here, died yesterday at a local hospital, where he had been a patient six days. Gravette was principal of the local school for 13 years. For the past six years, he was principal at Washington Elementary School in Cairo, Illinois.

With the area wheat harvest just getting underway, Cape Girardeau County farmers are predicting average or above average yields, despite less-than-ideal weather this spring; in addition, reports indicate producers should do quite well economically this year, with the market price running at $1.77 a bushel, higher than in past years.

1941

Bids will be taken soon for the construction of a basement and restrooms under the Trinity Lutheran Church building at Frederick and Themis streets. A basement approximately 40 by 50 feet will be constructed. There is no basement at this time, except at the east end, a section 20 by 30 feet being utilized by the heating plant.

A severe electrical storm, accompanied by a heavy downpour of rain, sweeps over the Millersville and Burfordville area in the western part of the county in the afternoon, destroying two barns and damaging other property.

1916

Thirteen Army engineers, fresh from their headquarters at Washington, are in Cape Girardeau for two hours in the afternoon, taking it easy for a while on their way to Mexico. They are led by Maj. W.P. Wooten, commander of a battalion of engineers. For years, he was an instructor at West Point and remembers well Lt. Robert W. Goetz of Cape Girardeau.

Harry Knight, while working on the excavation job at the new Buckner-Ragsdale Co. store on Main Street, is buried under an avalanche of dirt when a cave-in occurs. His fellow workers have to dig the earth and debris from around him to free him; it is a narrow escape.

-- Sharon K. Sanders