Out of the past: March 7

1996

Until a week ago, residents of Cher-Ron-Doe Estates used Melissa's Street -- an established gravel road -- to get home; Melissa is connected with Route W near Fruitland on one end and Comanche Street, where several houses in Cher-Ron-Doe are located, on the other; the situation changed Feb. 29, when subdivision owner Allen McDowell used earth-moving equipment to destroy the road, preventing its use; on Tuesday he put barrels across part of the road he felt could be passed; now several residents are taking McDowell to court, hoping for a temporary restraining order that will force him into restoring the road.

Former U.S. Sen. John Danforth, who represented Missouri in the Senate for three terms, speaks in the evening at a Public Issues Forum at Southeast Missouri State University; Danforth touches on a move to curb entitlements and its swift political death, even though such spending threatens to consume the entire federal budget.

1971

Lois Koth, Miss Iowa of 1969, opens the Discipleship Rally in the afternoon at the Arena Building, leading young people in the singing of folk songs in a program called "The Voice of Youth"; the rally, sponsored by the Missouri Synod Lutheran churches in Southeast Missouri, also features Dr. Oliver R. Harms, immediate past president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

Forty-seven Boy Scouts of the Southeast Missouri Council receive their Eagle badges in a special Court of Honor at State College; Harold E. Thayer, chairman of the board and president of Mallinckrodt Chemical Works in St. Louis, gives the charge to the class.

1946

Discussing the proposal in an editorial in The Missourian yesterday that the city extend its corporate limits to include the new city park area on Highway 61, Mayor Raymond E. Beckman says he can see no immediate prospects of such a move, while the president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, Clyde D. Harris, advocates annexation this spring.

The foundation work having been completed, the laying of brick commences on the new Esquire Theater building, being constructed in the 800 block of Broadway; Gerhardt Construction Co., which has this contract, has also completed foundation work on the new building for the Cape Girardeau School of Beauty Culture in the 900 block of Broadway.

1921

Cape Girardeau has been without electricity since 9:30 p.m. Saturday, when a rotor in a large Allis turbine at the power plant of the Missouri Utilities Co. broke, putting the plant out of commission; plant manager Eugene A. Hart says workers are making good progress on repairs, but he refuses to predict when service will resume.

Quick to take advantage of Cape Girardeau's powerless circumstances, several boys yesterday secured baskets and went house to house selling candles; they did a big business.

-- Sharon K. Sanders