Out of the past: March 15

1996

The deputy emergency preparedness director and a National Guard veteran were the first to be interviewed for the job of Cape Girardeau County emergency preparedness director; Martha Vandivort, who has been deputy director since 1979, and David M. Hitt, who served coordinated mobilization and emergency training for the Guard's 1140th Engineers Battalion, were interviewed Thursday by Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones and Commissioners Larry Bock and Joe Gambill; the director will replace Brian Miller, who died of a heart attack Feb. 15.

A section of South Sprigg Street was closed to traffic Thursday as a contractor began work to see that the road remains open in future floods; Mississippi River floodwaters have regularly closed a low-lying section of South Sprigg over the years; but a $573,450 project to elevate the roadway from Vine to LaCruz streets should keep the street high and dry in the future, city officials say.

1971

It's clean-up day in much of Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois, raked by high winds accompanying severe thunderstorms last night; several tornadoes were reported, and damage was extensive and widespread; in Southeast Missouri, funnel clouds were spotted in Cape Girardeau and Wyatt, and near Cairo and Gorham, Illinois; the storm with pelting rain driven by fierce winds struck Cape Girardeau shortly before midnight, uprooting trees and damaging homes and other buildings, mostly in the northern and western parts of town.

The arrest of three Cape Girardeau youths -- ages 19, 18 and 17 -- inside the Younghouse Distributing Co. Inc. building early in the day leads police to more than $1,200 worth of stolen merchandise and solves nine recent city burglaries; hundreds of stolen items are found at the homes of the three boys, including stereo tape cartridges, stereo records and various electronic equipment.

1946

Building permits for nine residential construction jobs costing $30,000 were issued by the city Thursday to Riverside Lumber Co.; seven of the nine new houses to go up will be built in the 1600 and 1700 blocks of Good Hope Street, and the other two will be erected on South Sprigg Street and on Bloomfield Road.

A restaurant is opened by the Cape Girardeau Flying Service at Harris Field; operated by Lyle Stewart, formerly of St. Louis, the new business is located in the flight control center; it was put in for the convenience of the many visitors to the field.

1921

The visit here Sunday of a theater building architect resulted in official determination on the part of stockholders in the enterprise to go ahead at once with plans for construction of a large theater building on West Broadway, according to John Sackman; the stage will be equipped for road shows, with modern arrangements for "flies," "drops" and scenery and scenic effects; the second floor of the building will be arranged to provide five offices for professional men, to be rented.

G.C. Turner, state inspector of hotels, warns that some hotels and lodging houses in Cape Girardeau are a public nuisance and should be shuttered; he says only two of the principal hotels here are above average, and every other place should be closed as a health menace.

-- Sharon K. Sanders