Out of the past: May 8

1998

The Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday approved a capital improvements spending package that includes $1 million for construction of the Cape Girardeau vocational-technical school; while that amount falls short of the $1.65 million the House approved last month, state Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, says he was pleased with the funding arrangement; the House is expected to review the proposal today.

Final clearance sales begin in the nation's Venture stores, including those in Cape Girardeau's West Park Mall and at Paducah, Kentucky; few details are known about the closing of the Cape Girardeau Venture; a spokesperson at West Park Mall says a date for its closing had not been mentioned, but it could happen by August; employees have been given 60-day notices that it will close.

1973

Unless a lot of conservationists put heavy pressure on the Nixon administration, the proposed 8,000-acre wilderness area in Southeast Missouri's Mingo National Wildlife Refuge will remain just a dream; the proposal's chances look gloomy; the Department of the Interior continues to oppose it -- the federal agency favors its own plan for a 1,700-acre wilderness area -- and 10th District Rep. Bill D. Burlison, D-Cape Girardeau, has apparently softened his support for the larger area.

A heavy spring squall raked Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois overnight, spawning a series of tornadoes and wind storms that touched down in at least five inhabited areas and injuring at least 10 persons; funnel clouds or tornado sightings were made in 12 Southeast Missouri communities, including Cape Girardeau and Jackson, where many residents moved to basements or storm cellars after a tornado was reported heading this way from the Illmo-Scott City area.

1948

Bracing for a possible general rail strike Tuesday, which would idle scores of railroad workers in Cape Girardeau, the post office reports there will be continued mail service, but on a limited basis; all incoming and outgoing mail will be handled by truck.

The State Conservation Commission in Jefferson City announces that Edward Hartel, a conservation agent in Cape Girardeau and Perry counties, has been appointed agent-at-large for 16 counties in Southeast Missouri; he has been succeeded as agent in Cape and Perry counties by D.W. Proffer, formerly of Bloomfield, who recently joined the commission staff; Hartel's new post will have him handling assignments in an area ranging from St. Francois County on the north to Butler and Iron counties on the west, south to the Arkansas line.

1923

Refusal of the Cape Girardeau City Council to grant a license to J.L. Clifton to operate a ferryboat across the Mississippi River here will be met by legal action in an attempt to force the council to give its permission for an additional boat, the river man declares; the council yesterday refused to grant the license to Clifton, holding to what was considered its prerogative rights, in maintaining that the present ferry service is adequate; A.C. Jaynes operates the ferry service here at present.

Residents of Harmony Street and Painter Avenue in West Cape Girardeau have appealed to city officials to allow a parkway to be built in the center of Harmony, from Broadway to West End Boulevard; the street, torn up by the installation of a sewer, is to be paved soon, and residents of the West End say they would prefer that a parkway be left in the center of Harmony and the street be made into two one-way drives.

-- Sharon K. Sanders