Out of the past: March 24

1997

TerraTherem, an environmental firm based in Houston, Texas, is handling a test cleanup of PCB-contaminated soil at the Missouri Electric Works Superfund site in Cape Girardeau; the firm is doing the demonstration project in an effort to convince the Environmental Protection Agency its cleanup technology will work as well as the more conventional practice of excavating and incinerating contaminated soil.

State Rep. Bill Foster, R-Poplar Bluff, says the Castor River Conservation Area in southwestern Bollinger County could be a suitable site for a recreational lake; Foster says the Missouri Conservation Department land could offer an alternative to a lake that would cover parts of Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties.

1972

Members of the Jehovah's Witnesses are gathering in Cape Girardeau for a three-day circuit assembly convention at the Arena Building; approximately 2,100 delegates from Southeast Missouri and southern Illinois are expected to attend.

A contest develops for the state representative seat from the 156th District when W.F. "Pat" McKee, Cape Girardeau schoolteacher, files as a Democratic candidate with the secretary of state in Jefferson City; it is McKee's third bid for the House seat representing most of Cape Girardeau; unless another Democrat files, McKee will likely face incumbent Rep. A. Robert Pierce Jr., in the general election; Pierce so far is unopposed.

1947

Devoid of the drama which marked their first session, the Cape Girardeau City Council and County Court on a second ballot by a vote of 4-3 approve the appointment of Fred A. Groves to the Cape Special Road District at a joint meeting at Jackson; the meeting is in sharp contrast to the stormy confab which marked the previous joint meeting a month ago, at which the name of W.J. Kies was placed in nomination with that of Groves.

With new lasting machines installed and patterns adopted, the Littleton Shoe Co. plant at 725a Broadway will be ready about April 15 to start expanding operations designed to increase production from the present 360 pairs to from 540 to 720 pairs of women's shoes per day; the plant now has 50 persons employed and plans to add quite a few more to the payroll.

1922

All the sons of Burl D. Allen and their families are holding a family reunion at Allen's home in Jackson at present; the parties came from various parts of the country; most are expert musicians and follow the show and theatrical business; needless to say, music is the main diversion of the homecomers.

J. Grant Frye, a junior at the Teachers College here, will represent Missouri in the inter-state oratorical contest at Macomb, Illinois, May 5; Frye earns the right to represent the state by gaining a decision of the judges in the state oratorical contest at Springfield; he is opposed by Howell Cobb of the Springfield Teachers College; two other schools, Warrensburg and Maryville, previously dropped out of the contest.

-- Sharon K. Sanders