Out of the past: June 29

1998

Sixteen gambling casinos in Missouri reported revenues of $15.3 million in April while Illinois' revenues for nine casinos topped $20.9 million for the same month; if you add revenues from slot machines, the totals jump to $65 million in Missouri and more than $90 million in Illinois; but slot machines, which account for almost 70 to 75% of gambling revenues, are suddenly on the endangered list in Missouri; last week, the Missouri Gaming Commission voted to begin action to remove slots and other games of chance from so-called "boats in moats."

Increased revenue and decreased expenditures will bring about a strong turnaround in the Cape Girardeau School District's budget this fiscal year; board members learn of the district's improved financial standing during a Cape Girardeau Board of Education meeting; in a year-end report, business manager Dr. Steve Del Vecchio says the district will show a positive spending pattern in nearly every category when the fiscal year ends tomorrow.

1973

City Street Department workers and State Highway Department District 10 maintenance crews are repairing sections of water-heat damaged Broadway, Cape Girardeau's major east-west thoroughfare; cold mix asphalt is being wedged into cracks of the broken and buckled pavement in an attempt to smooth out the sharp edges at the intersection of Broadway and Caruthers Avenue.

A riverboat -- Mr. R -- owned by Missouri Dry Dock and Repair Co. of Cape Girardeau is reported to have sunk last night in the Mississippi River below Blytheville, Arkansas, when it hit a sunken barge; all crewmen are said to have left the boat safely; C.W. Rushing, company president, was aboard the boat when it went down, it is reported.

1948

Continued rainfall is posing a threat to one of the best crop prospects in recent years in Southeast Missouri; overnight rain, heavy in spots over the entire district, continues the enforced idleness of farmers; hurt worst by the downpours have been the small grains, harvest of which has been underway, and hay.

Construction work is expected to begin soon on the new B. & W. Sales and Service building on the north side of Morgan Oak Street, on what formerly was the Hartzell family property; the Rev. E.D. Winstead and Oscar Brown own the business, which will include the GMC truck agency.

1923

Col. C.D. Matthews of Sikeston, Missouri, a member of the State Highway Commission, is in Cape Girardeau with C.D. Mann, bridge engineer, M.S. Murray, engineer in charge of surveys, and Frank B. Newton, division engineer, considering the bridge that spans the diversion channel on South Kingshighway; the commission realizes that a permanent bridge must be constructed over the channel as soon as possible, as the bridge now in use was originally installed as a temporary structure and has been maintained with great difficulty; engineers doubt it will survive another winter.

Fire originating from a non-insulated electric wire almost destroys the Paul Leming home at 824 Bellevue St. late in the night; an estimated $5,000 in damage is done to the structure and its furnishings; Leming and his wife are both away from the home at the time; smoke is seen pouring from the windows in the upper story of the house, when nearby residents raise the alarm; firemen are unable to locate the fire until flames licked their way out of an attic room; smoke entirely fills the house, puffing out of every opening.

-- Sharon K. Sanders