Out of the past: May 1

1998

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson has raised seven times as much money as her leading Democratic opponent so far this year; as of the end of March, the Cape Girardeau Republican was sitting on a war chest of $292,511; in contrast, Democrat and former Scott County circuit judge Anthony "Tony" Heckemeyer had only $19,290 in his campaign coffer; the candidates disclosed their campaign finances in first-quarter reports filed in mid-April with the Federal Election Commission.

Controversy over Mary Miller's resignation as director of Cape Girardeau's Convention and Visitors Bureau has given the CVB advisory board "the biggest black eye in the city," a board member said Thursday; Dennis "Doc" Cain made the statement and said Miller was a "tremendous asset" for the city; Miller submitted her resignation April 20; concerns over high turnover at the CVB during Miller's tenure were cited when her resignation was announced.

1973

The Mississippi River hovers at a record-breaking crest of nearly 46 feet at Cape Girardeau, but the National Weather Service warns that a major storm which is blasting the Midwest with up to 4 inches of rain might send the flooded stream toward another crest next week; if so, it will be the fourth time this spring that the river has reached a crest of 40 feet or more here, well above the 32-foot flood stage.

CHESTER, Ill. -- An uprising at Menard State Prison in which 42 prisoners held a 60-year-old security guard hostage for over 20 hours ends; the guard, Bill Sheets of Chester, is released unharmed when prisoners surrender.

1948

Cape Girardeau's longstanding, overwhelming demand for parking meters was officially met yesterday when the City Council signed a contract with Magee-Hale Park-O-Meter Co. for placing some 300 meters in the main business districts; tentative locations for the meters are Broadway between Pacific and Main streets, Fountain Street near the Marquette and Idan-Ha hotels, Main Street between Broadway and Independence Street, Independence from Main to Spanish, Good Hope Street between Frederick and Sprigg streets and Sprigg from Morgan Oak Street to just north of Good Hope.

In preparation for the midget automobile racing program to begin either May 17 or May 24, American Legion members have laid 400 feet of water line and placed foundations for the seats which will flank the Arena Building grandstand at Arena Park; the water line leads to the center of the midget track and will provide three separate outlets for wetting down the track; the new seats will accommodate 798 persons on the south side of the building and 1,400 on the north side; that will bring the seating capacity, including the grandstand, to 4,223 persons.

1923

The Marquette Cement Manufacturing Co. of Chicago has acquired control of the Cape Girardeau Portland Cement Co.; T.H. Cosford, assistant to the general manager of the Marquette company, and G.A. Wecker, secretary and treasurer of the company, arrive in Cape Girardeau and will take over the plant as soon as legal transfers to Marquette are made; the plant employs more than 200 men and has a monthly payroll of more than $20,000.

The 47th annual meeting of the Southeast Missouri Medical Society convenes in the evening in the Chamber of Commerce, with Dr. Charles U. Davis of Fredericktown, society president, presiding; lectures and papers on such topics as typhoid fever, malaria, hypertension, psychology, Parkinsonian syndrome and the use of X-rays as an aid to early diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis will fill the all-day schedule tomorrow.

-- Sharon K. Sanders