Out of the past: March 20

1995

More than 100 area residents heeded a call to a Christian life last night at the opening of the Heartland for Christ Crusade at the Show Me Center; Evangelist Lowell Lundstrom of Sisseton, South Dakota, gave the call to the 1,500 to 1,800 who heard his message; drawing from world events and the O.J. Simpson murder trial, Lindstrom related how America has fallen into sin.

The Saint Louis Bread Co., offering bakery products, coffees, sandwiches, soups and salads, has opened in West Park Mall in Cape Girardeau.

1970

Wilver Wessel, Cape Girardeau superintendent of mail, says the post office here has been informed the mail embargo now covers a larger area of New York City and part of New Jersey; the Cape Girardeau Post Office has accumulated almost three feet of letter mail destined for the embargoed area; the letter-carriers strike has spread westward from New York as far as St. Paul, Minnesota, and Chicago.

Plans for another project to improve the interior of the Arena Building were approved yesterday by the City Council; the Arena Improvement Committee's plans call for a decorative lighting system, carpeting for the main stairway and ornamental railings.

1945

Red Cross campaign chairman James A. Finch reveals Cape Girardeau city will likely be $2,500 short of its part of the county quota for the war aid fund; the entire county quota is $36,000.

Proposals to raise the pay of certain city employees were shelved by the Cape Girardeau City Council on Monday afternoon, after it was agreed it has already been too difficult complying with the budget made last July 1; a $15 per month pay increase had been suggested for members of the fire department.

1920

Oak Ridge residents are baffled over the strange disappearance of Wash Miller, cashier of the Bank of Oak Ridge, secretary-treasurer of the Potato Harvester Co., and deeply interested in numerous other commercial enterprises; Miller walked from the back door of his pleasant Oak Ridge home at 11 a.m. yesterday, and no trace of him has been found since.

While passing through the alley between Park Theater and The Missourian office yesterday afternoon, Francis McElroy, son of Joe McElroy, found a stick of dynamite with a long fuse attached lying near the sidewalk; it is believe it was part of a stock of dynamite stolen recently from the Hely rock quarry by a gang of boys.

-- Sharon K. Sanders