Out of the past: June 9

1995

Streets in downtown Cape Girardeau looked like fast-flowing rivers about 6:30 p.m. yesterday as a severe thunderstorm thrashed the area; water was more than waist deep on Water Street and inundated many downtown businesses; in addition to water damage, high winds shattered windows and damaged roofs around the city.

This is the first year in memory the floodgates are not open for Riverfest, the two-day festival beginning this evening in downtown Cape Girardeau; the river is well above flood stage at 42.7 feet; still, fan favorites such as the Bud Light Air Show and the annual Miss Riverfest Pageant are scheduled to go on as planned; the fireworks that will culminate Riverfest on Saturday evening will be shot off from a river levee in Southern Illinois.

1970

Six new ministers have been assigned to serve United Methodist churches in Southeast Missouri: the Rev. J. Carl Frame, Benton; the Rev. Coy Statler, Advance; the Rev. David Rice, Oak Ridge; the Rev. John Rice, Sedgewickville; the Rev. Larry Rushing, Oran, and the Rev. C. Glenn Lashley, East Prairie.

Enrollment for the summer session at State College continues, while classes open for the summer term, which runs through July 31; a heavy influx of enrollees swarmed the registrar's office yesterday, giving way to an extension of the enrollment date; Alton Bray, registrar, says college officials deemed it necessary to extend enrollment through tomorrow, even though classes began today; around 3,000 students are expected for the summer term.

1945

Crop damage in Southeast Missouri, due to excessive rainfall, assumes alarming proportions in the wake of cloudbursts that left thousands of acres inundated; aside from damage to already seeded crops, days may elapse before planting -- already long delayed -- can be resumed, even if weather conditions improve; while Cape Girardeau County escaped the brunt of the storm, Sikeston, Missouri, recorded 8.78 inches of rain in a 48-hour period ending at 8 a.m. today.

A lightning bolt apparently strikes the county courthouse in Jackson, putting 11 telephones out of commission.

1920

About 12,000 pounds of wool have been stored in the basement of Mill B of Cape County Milling Co. in Jackson, all gathered up in the wool pool formed by Cape Girardeau County farmers; an expert began grading the wool early Monday morning.

Attorney J.F. Woody of the Henson & Woody law firm of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, attorneys for John R. Parmenter, now serving a sentence in the state penitentiary at Jefferson City, settles with Albert Spradling and Oscar Knehans, attorneys for Louisa Demortiers; she is given damages in the Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri, circuit court for $8,000 against Parmenter for killing her husband, Cape Girardeau policeman Albert Demortiers, in 1917.

-- Sharon K. Sanders