Out of the past: May 15

1998

Gene Huckstep, 69, whose leadership helped mold Cape Girardeau County government into one of the most well run in the state, died Wednesday night, May 13, at his Cape Girardeau home; Cape Girardeau County commissioners yesterday ordered all county flags lowered to half staff in memory of Huckstep, who had served as presiding commissioner from 1979 to 1994; more than just a political leader, he opened an auto body shop in Cape Girardeau in 1948, and in 1965 started the first extrication service in the area; a strong supporter of Saint Francis Hospital, he convinced the hospital to set up a 24-hour, staffed emergency room; in 1987, the center renamed its trauma wing in Huckstep's honor.

Bruce Loy, manager of the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, wasn't thrilled to learn Missouri Senate action on a measure to provide state funding for airports around the state was being held up last night by a filibuster on a controversial desegregation bill; supporters of the measure to create an aviation trust fund funded by the state tax on jet fuel hope the Senate will act today.

1973

After spending considerable time deciding what parliamentary procedure to use, the Cape Girardeau Board of Education last night voted out the proposed purchase of a computer for the vocational-technical school and voted in a 5% increment raise in salary for the top four administrators.

Nearly a third of the 1.2-mile approach fill on the Missouri side of the Interstate 155 bridge now under construction south of Caruthersville, Missouri, has been washed away by this spring's Mississippi River flood, say construction engineers with the Missouri Highway Department; the record-breaking, 66-day-old flood has also taken its toll on highways within the department's District 10, headquartered at Sikeston; it is still too early to tell how much highway damage there is, but it is believed to be extensive.

1948

An appropriations bill providing funds for a new field house and health building at State College is on the desk of Gov. P.M. Donnelly at Jefferson City; he has until June 3 to act on the measure, which sets aside $500,000 to rebuild Houck Field House, which burned Feb. 7.

Intermittent rain in heavy showers during the day culminates in a near cloudburst during the night, bringing a total 24-hour fall to 2.33 inches; the torrents send streams out of their banks, interrupt some utility lines and wash out newly planted gardens and farmland.

1923

Lowlands were devastated, roads washed out, and train service in the south part of Cape Girardeau County was held up yesterday by one of the heaviest rain storms in years; creek bottoms west of Jackson are inundated; homes along the creeks are partially under water, while growing crops in the valleys are flooded following last night's deluge, which swept the entire county as well as adjoining sections.

It takes more than a thunderstorm to dampen the ardor of the kiddies of Cape Girardeau schools; this was demonstrated last evening when the New Broadway Theatre was filled with boys and girls, contestants and friends of contestants, in the final trials in music appreciation contests that have been going on several weeks under the supervision of Frieda Rieck; as the children and many adults assembled, the rain came down in torrents, and the paved streets were veritable streams.

-- Sharon K. Sanders