Out of the past: May 22

1996

With less than a week remaining before the Olympic flame arrives in Cape Girardeau, the city seems ready, but the 40 runners aren't; most of the Olympic torch-runners in Southeast Missouri aren't certain about their spot in the relay route; some don't even have an official uniform yet; the information should arrive today, says Nancy Jernigan, executive director of the Area Wide United Way, which is coordinating the event locally.

One of country music's hottest new groups will headline the entertainment at this year's Riverfest celebration in downtown Cape Girardeau; Lonestar will perform the evening of June 15 on the main stage near Themis and Spanish streets; in addition to Lonestar, voted the hottest new group in 1996 by the Academy of Country Music, Riverfest '96 will capitalize on the diverse musical talents around the area to provide entertainment for the two-day event which begins June 14.

1971

Missouri Attorney General John C. Danforth, an ordained Episcopal minister, will speak tomorrow morning at the State College baccalaureate program; the program will be held in Academic Hall auditorium; the Rev. Thomas Kozeny of the Catholic Newman Center adjacent to the campus will give the invocation, and the benediction will be offered by the Rev. William A. McCutchen Jr., pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church.

Harris Take Home, Inc., which operates restaurants at Sikeston and Poplar Bluff, Missouri, under the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise, has leased a space 30-by-40 feet in a new building under construction on the south side of the 1300 block of Broadway for a second KFC restaurant in Cape Girardeau; the other location in Cape girardeau is at 2100 William St.

1946

Two large, old buildings on the east side of Spanish street in the block south of Independence Street -- owned by the Juden-Houck-Frissell estate -- are being razed to make the area available for use as a parking lot; the lot, to be 150 feet long and 130 feet wide, will park 100 cars and will be for the free use of tenants of the estate and their customers; one of the old dwellings being razed was the old T.B. Morrison place.

Every home in Cape Girardeau is to be contacted by State College officials in an effort to locate rooms for students for use during the summer term of the college, which begins next week; thus far, the telephone canvas has yielded little results.

1921

Doyle and Strain, managers of the Park Theater on Broadway, have purchased the Orpheum Theater on Good Hope Street, and its name will be changed to The Capital; at the same time it is announced that the Park will be enlarged, with another story being added to the building to provide for a balcony; the Orpheum was owned by Joseph and Tony Haas and Henry Sanders.

Richard Williams, 12, of Cape Girardeau, in doing stunts on the playground equipment at Fairground Park, shoots the chute of the "ocean wave" and is carried home with a dislocated wrist, when he falls from the device.

-- Sharon K. Sanders