Out of the past: May 30

1992

A ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the dedication and grand opening of the Jackson Noon Optimist Club's Safety City USA in Jackson City Park. The miniature city, complete with streets and traffic signals, will be used to give bicycle and traffic-safety instruction to young children.

Area supporters of Ross Perot's effort to get on the presidential ballot in Missouri vow to start all over collecting signatures after a conflict at the state level of the Perot organization led to a decision not to file the petitions that already had been collected. Gil Degenhardt, who is the new 8th District coordinator of the campaign, says gathering new signatures won't be a big problem.

1967

A Memorial Day observance is conducted at Memorial Park in the morning, with the Joint Veterans Council supervising the event. The Cape Girardeau Municipal Band performs patriotic songs, and city Councilman A. Robert Pierce Jr. speaks below the bell tower. American flags decorate the graves of veterans buried at the park and at all other Cape Girardeau cemeteries.

An open house draws the public to view the new, 12-story dormitories at State College. Two of the new high-rise dorms will be in use this fall.

1942

Businesses suspend in Cape Girardeau, virtually "lock, stock and barrel," in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. It is the first complete Saturday suspension of business in Cape Girardeau since 1937. The annual tribute to the sailor and Marine war dead is held at the seawall, near the Frisco passenger depot, in the afternoon. All known graves of the war dead in the cemeteries here have been decorated with American flags by members of the Sons of Union Veterans. Flowers have been placed on many of the graves.

Ben F. Cain, formerly of Cape Girardeau, who rose in government service to be the head of the postal-savings department, is to retire shortly from his position in Washington. He and his wife plan to make their home in Dexter, Missouri.

1917

Memorial Day activities take on an even more solemn tone because of the war conditions now prevailing. Especially somber exercises are carried out, participated in by the Grand Army of the Republic veterans, Sons of Veterans, members of the Women's Relief Corps, Ladies' Auxiliary to the Sons of Veterans, other societies and school children. A parade starts at Courthouse Park and marches to the old cemetery, where the graves of the old soldiers are decorated and a program of patriotic hymns, recitations and speeches is given.

Twenty-four Cape Girardeau County boys, living in cities scattered across the United States, have sent to Sheriff Jeff Hutson their military-registration cards.

-- Sharon K. Sanders