Out of the past: May 29

1996

Selecting a commencement speaker for Notre Dame and Cape Girardeau Central high schools was almost as easy as tuning in a radio station; both schools invited a radio personality to be commencement speakers Friday; the Rev. Harry Schlitt, a California radio-show host, will speak to the 1996 graduating class at Notre Dame High School; conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh III will address students at Cape Girardeau Central High School.

Health officials and biologists agree this year's floodwater mosquitoes are larger and more ferocious biters; a wet spring and flooding in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois have provided the right ingredients for mosquitoes; "Most common in the floodwater mosquito is the aedes vexans," says Dr. Christina Frazier, professor of biology at Southeast Missouri State University; "They'll go after anything that moves."

1971

Persons in Southeast Missouri caught in possession of drugs or narcotics are going to have a tougher time pawning it off on law enforcement officials as "clean stuff"; the Southeast Missouri Law Enforcement Assistance Crime Laboratory at State College has developed a field testing kit which Region 8 of the LEAC is distributing to area law enforcement agencies; the kits contain eight chemicals which will detect any illegal drug or narcotic.

After five full days of testimony, a hearing on Missouri-Pacific Railroad's application to abandon its Bismarck-Whitewater branch line closed yesterday evening with a 45-day period set for filing of briefs; examiner Lyle C. Farmer, who conducted the hearing for the Interstate Commerce Commission, says a final decision on the railroad's request may not be made for nine months.

1946

Tribute to Cape Girardeau County's 112 war dead of World War II and to the fallen heroes of other conflicts is paid in a memorial service in the evening at Houck Field Stadium; the service, arranged jointly by the Municipal Band and the American Legion posts of Cape Girardeau and Jackson, is attended by an estimated 1,500 persons, including families of those who gave the their lives in the late war; Rush H. Limbaugh delivers the main address, and Dr. Jean Ruff sings a solo.

A lease has been taken by the Pal-O-Pac Insulation Co. of Hartland, Wisconsin, on the three-story stone depot building owned by the Missouri Pacific Railroad at Independence and Middle streets for a factory site; the company proposes to manufacture insulation retailed through Western Auto and Gamble stores and other outlets here.

1921

The morning service at Centenary Methodist Church is suspended, allowing the congregation to hear the baccalaureate sermon at Cape Girardeau Central High School auditorium delivered by the Rev. E.H. Orear; in the evening, the Rev. Dr. L.E. Todd, former pastor of Centenary Methodist Church at St. Louis, preaches at the local church.

E.L. Hutson, a former Cape Girardeau policeman and now an employee of the cement plant, is struck in the evening by an automobile driven by W.B. Malone, a Sikeston, Missouri, baseball player returning home after playing the Capahas earlier in the day; witnesses say Hutson is struck as he steps off the wagon which carries workers to and from the cement plant, the radiator of the automobile striking him near the waist and knocking him to the street; Hutson is taken to his home on South Painter Avenue, where a physician is treating him.

-- Sharon K. Sanders