Out of the past: May 6

1999

​Zenair of Canada Ltd. won’t be coming to Cape Girardeau; Independent Manufacturing Development Co., a subsidiary of Zenair aircraft company, notified Cape Girardeau officials that it was terminating its memorandum of understanding with the city and will not put a plant at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport; Zenair and Independent announced in March they would start assembling planes in Cape Girardeau within 60 days.

The Missouri Senate yesterday passed a spending bill that includes $4.6 million for Southeast Missouri State University’s River Campus project; the measure also includes $615,000 toward construction of a new vocational-technical school in Cape Girardeau and $50,000 for expansion of the Cape Girardeau Veterans Home parking lot; the capital improvements bill doesn’t tie up spending for the River Campus project as the House measure would have done.

1974

​Motorists have been unable to use Bend Road Bridge over Sloan’s Creek since it was closed Dec. 27 and detour signs were placed at either end of the bridge; the city has been unable to make any repairs to the span, or even check its condition, because the concrete footings have been covered with water; the problem stems from the flooding that occurred along Sloan’s Creek from the Mississippi River last spring.

A visit to the 114-foot truss bridge over Crooked Creek west of Whitewater and a request from a county resident to open a ditch along a public road in the southwest corner of the county are among items of business during a relatively lax session of County Court; Presiding Judge Clarence W. Suedekum and Associate Judge Edwin W. Sander spend most of the morning inspecting the location of the truss bridge, one of six county bridges that are to be replaced.

1949

​Two jug-and-line fishermen, Robert Hartle and N. Burton Short, are boasting about 24-pound and 35-pound channel catfish they caught last night in the Diversion Channel; they were using dough balls for bait, and landed both whoppers just before midnight.

Professor Jeptha Riggs, instructor of English at the State College since 1905, will retire at the end of the summer session; the veteran educator, who has taught thousands of students, was honored for his long service in ceremonies at the college in November 1947; he will be replaced as head of the Department of English by professor H.O. Grauel.

1924

​Circuit Judge Frank Kelly filed a new suit against the City of Cape Girardeau on Monday in Common Pleas Court, asking for $1,200 for the alleged overflow of water on his property near the intersection of Independence and Pacific streets; a similar suit brought by Kelly was carried on appeal from a demurrer to the St. Louis Court of Appeals, where the higher court dismissed the case in favor of the city; on another occasion several years ago, Kelly was awarded damages by a jury.

Patrolman Monroe Bennett, who by the recent naming of a new chief had been automatically released from the Cape Girardeau Police Department, was reinstated yesterday by the City Council; that brings the force to six patrolmen, three of whom will be on duty 12 hours in respective parts of the city all the time; these officers are in addition to Chief Arthur S. Whitener and health officer Robert Wilson; the council also adopted a plan whereby the patrolmen will be shifted each month to different beats, allowing them to become familiar with all parts of the city.

Southeast Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders compiles the information for the daily Out of the Past column. She also writes a blog called “From the Morgue” that showcases interesting historical stories from the newspaper. Check out her blog at www.semissourian.com/history.