Out of the past: March 26

1994

Former national education secretary and drug czar William Bennett may have missed his true calling; in an hourlong speech at Southeast Missouri State University yesterday, Bennett delivered a pretty fair stand-up comedy act before a packed house of about 550 people.

The narrow Themis Street bridge over Walker Creek -- at the intersection of Themis and North Kingshighway -- has been closed so the contractor can remove the bridge and replace it with a wider and longer span.

1969

A week ago, Girardeans had thoughts of spring, but yesterday's snow flurries turned into enough snow overnight to blanket the area with a light white cover; the snow was accompanied by cold winds and gray, overcast skies.

Mitchell R. Sharpe of Huntsville, Alabama, yesterday spoke at an assembly of regional science fair exhibitors, describing the extreme measures used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to assure the safety of the men who go into space; Sharpe is connected with the Manned Flight Awareness program, the quality control arm of NASA at the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center at Huntsville.

1944

One of the national leaders of young Baptists, William Hall Preston of Nashville, Tennessee, associate secretary for the Southern Baptist Student Union, is the guest speaker in the evening at First Baptist Church; he discusses the place of youth in church life and emphasizes the importance of youth training for the church.

Republicans of Cape Girardeau County are on record as favoring the re-election of Barak T. Mattingly of St. Louis as national committeeman and Grover Dalton of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, as state chairman of the state committee; unofficially, the Republicans also went on record Saturday as favoring Gov. Thomas E. Dewey of New York as their choice for the presidential nomination.

1919

Contractor Louis Borcherding of St. Louis spent yesterday in Cape Girardeau consulting with foreman R.B. Kilgore on the construction of the bridge over the diversion channel where it crosses the Rock Levee Road; Kilgore, who has been here the past week, has everything ready to begin work as soon as the water in the big ditch goes down; it's now 23 feet deep.

Officers of the Cape Girardeau Commercial Club are considering holding weekly meetings, beginning the first Friday in April, instead of monthly as heretofore; on this first Friday, it is expected Frank C. Rand, president of International Shoe Co., will be the guest of the club.

-- Sharon K. Sanders