Out of the past: May 27

1997

Sam Unnerstall was 10 years old when his father, Frank, moved the family drug store into new quarters at 630 Good Hope St.; he worked in the fountain and was in charge of comic books; commenting on Unnerstall's Drug Store closure Friday after 70 years in business on Good Hope, Unnerstall said, "It's going to be hard to walk off and leave all these people."

Winds reaching near-tornado speed rip through a section of Stoddard County, Missouri, in the afternoon, downing power lines and trees and damaging roofs; the damage isn't consistent with a tornado, but trees are blown down in a line from Dudley to Dexter, Missouri; they all fall in the same direction, consistent with a strong southeasterly wind.

1972

The Southeast Missourian publishes a letter from President Richard Nixon on its front page; written while Nixon was at Camp David a week ago, the letter praises the newspaper's May 8 editorial, in which the Missourian supported the president's handling of the Vietnam War.

BENTON, Ill. -- Rend Lake dedication ceremonies reach their climax in the evening, when Illinois Gov. Richard B. Ogilvie officially dedicates the lake, which is expected to become a major industry and tourist attraction in the area; the 18,900-acre lake culminates 18 years of work, dating back to 1954 when a two-year drought hit the water-short community; at that time, the locals expressed their determination to develop a large lake

1947

Nominees for the office of county sheriff to succeed the late Herman Sewing, who was killed Saturday night while helping victims of an automobile accident, will be selected by the Republican and Democratic county political committees and will be voted on at a special county-wide election; until a new sheriff is elected, the county coroner, Dr. J.F. Sigmund of Jackson, is shouldering those responsibilities.

Members of the Retail Merchants Association, without a voice of dissent being raised, adopt a motion creating a committee which will call on the Cape Girardeau City Council Monday asking that parking meters be installed in the main business areas of the city.

1922

Edward A. Wacker of St. Louis, salesman for the L. Cohen Grocer Co., is unanimously elected president of the Southeast Missouri Drummers' Association at a business meeting held in the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce rooms; he succeeds Ed. Massengill, also of St. Louis and formerly of Cape Girardeau; Poplar Bluff, Missouri, has been selected as the site of the next drummers' convention.

Since outings and picnics have become popular, bevies of girls in Jackson are seen daily on the streets wearing the garment for males, the pantaloons -- well, breeches or knickers; some older persons feel their modesty has been shocked, and an appeal was made to the chief of police, who took the objection to the mayor; Mayor Sam Vandivort ruled that the girls shouldn't be molested, inasmuch as this thing is being done everywhere else, and "knickers' have become quite the style for outings.

-- Sharon K. Sanders