Out of the past: May 16

1993

A retirement reception was held yesterday for Sam Jarrell, principal of May Greene School, at the Vo-Tech Building; Jarrell will retire at the end of the school year, after 26 years with the Cape Girardeau Public Schools.

Legislation to allow Sunday package liquor sales is drawing mixed reactions locally; Gov. Mel Carnahan has indicated he will likely sign the legislation approved recently by the Missouri General Assembly; if enacted, the measure would end the situation where some restaurants can sell packaged beer or liquor on Sundays, while other establishments such as grocery and liquor stores are prohibited from doing so.

1968

A second new position -- that of full-time city attorney -- is being created within the framework of Cape Girardeau's municipal administration; the job was initially instituted last night, when the City Council gave first reading to an ordinance establishing new pay grades and steps and the two new jobs, city attorney and city collector.

Word has been received Warrant Officer David L. Blattel of Scott City, 22, is missing in action after the helicopter he was piloting was shot down May 5 in Vietnam; no trace of the craft has been found; Blattel is the son of Kathlyn Blattel and Wilmer T. Blattel, both of Scott City.

1943

Dr. Joseph Serena of Cape Girardeau is the guest preacher at the Christian Church at Libertyville, Missouri, between Fredericktown and Farmington, which is observing its 121st anniversary; Serena is conducting a two-week preaching mission at the church, the first Christian congregation established west of the Mississippi River.

Plans are being made for repairing and redecorating the exterior and interior of Centenary Methodist Church buildings; a committee, with professor F.H. Rose as chairman, has been named to look into the matter.

1918

For the first time since Saturday the Frisco Railroad runs trains to the south of Cape Girardeau in the afternoon, passenger train No. 801 from St. Louis making the first trip; the northbound also gets through for the first time in five days; severe flooding damaged tracks, as well as the big trestle over the diversion channel south of here.

Landowners in the Dutchtown district, who were affected by the recent overflow due to the breaking of a drainage ditch levee, have organized a mass meeting tomorrow afternoon at Dutchtown to consider future conditions; some area farmers are urging steps be taken to secure damages from the Little River Drainage District, claiming the break was due to negligence and the recent floods swept a country never before menaced by high water.

-- Sharon K. Sanders