Out of the past: May 18

1994

Renovation of the heavily-silted, algae-covered Jackson Rotary Lake begins, when Jackson Park Department employees open a valve to draw down its water level; the lake, which was built in the mid-1970s, is in the main city park west of the swimming pool.

The countdown is on; weeks or just days remain until high school graduations, the last day of school and the beginning of summer vacation for students; 266 seniors at Cape Girardeau Central High will be among the last in the area to graduate, with commencement set for June 10 at the Show Me Center; Notre Dame High seniors will receive their diplomas May 27 in the school gym; Jackson High's graduation is scheduled for June 1 in the school's football stadium.

1969

The collision of a bus and two cars on Highway 61, four miles south of Old Appleton, early in the night brings death to a St. Louis man and sends 11 other persons to a local hospital; seven of the injured are State College students returning to Cape Girardeau by bus.

Author Jean Bell Mosley tells the cream of the crop of Cadette Girl Scouts, rising to receive First Class awards, "If you sit around where you are now, you will lose 30 to 40% of the cream of living"; a tornado watch in the Bootheel and heavy rain don't keep away the crowd; Academic Auditorium at State College is filled with the parents and friends of the 130 award-winners from the Otahki and Cotton Belt councils of Girl Scouts.

1944

For the first time since March 20, a period of nearly two months, the Mississippi River drops below flood stage at Cape Girardeau; the river stage at 8 a.m. is 30.4, down from the May 13 crest of 40.8 feet.

T-Sgt. John Roberts, reported missing in action on a bombing flight over Germany on Easter Sunday, April 9, is a prisoner of the Germans; his mother, Mrs. Fred Robbins of Jonesboro, Illinois, formerly of Cape Girardeau, was notified by the War Department; Roberts had been in England since January, being a radio-gunner on a bomber.

1919

It's a busy day in Southeast Missouri for Methodists, as they work to fill their quotas in the big Centenary drive; in Cape Girardeau a dozen teams begin at 9 a.m. to solicit members at their homes for subscription to the fund; the quota for the city of Cape Girardeau is $2,609 a year for five years, for a total of $13,000; the soliciting committees secure subscriptions for $15,000.

Helen Moore and Isabel Irwin won the state championship for the Southeast Teachers College in tennis at the State College athletic meet held at Springfield, Missouri, Friday and Saturday; Moore won the state championship in singles, and Moore and Irwin won the championship in doubles.

-- Sharon K. Sanders