Out of the past: Nov. 19

1993

Preliminary estimates indicate last weekend's flash flooding and heavy rains caused at least $40,000 worth of damage to county roads and bridges in Cape Girardeau County; most of the damage occurred in the western and northern areas of the county, in the vicinity of Whitewater River, Byrd's Creek and Apple Creek.

More than 450 people are expected to celebrate Thanksgiving together Thursday at the Salvation Army's annual dinner; donations of food items are needed, and volunteers are also being solicited to help prepare and serve the meal.

1968

A touch of skepticism is reflected in the "wait and see" attitude of most area school and state officials on the proposed master plan for school district reorganization in Missouri; the Missouri School District Reorganization Commission has submitted to the State Board of Education a proposal to establish 20 regional school districts in Missouri and reduce the number of local operating districts from 786 to 132.

The annual Cape Girardeau Fire Department drive for toys for deserving children is underway; those toys no longer in use or in repairable condition may be donated at any of the three city fire stations; they will be repaired by firemen and distributed to needy children.

1943

Approaching the end of their first week of operations in Cape Girardeau County, Fort Leonard Wood soldiers have collected a total of approximately 120 tons of usable scrap metal from the school districts in the county; all of the scrap collected has been trucked to the Army's railhead in Cape Girardeau, where trained salvage men are making short work of cutting and processing the metals and loading them for shipment.

Another 100 names of men in the armed forces from Cape Girardeau County have been added to the service board at Broadway and West End Boulevard, bringing the total to 3,100, according to George Vandeven and Ivan Fischer of the American Legion committee.

1918

The commissioners for the Cape Special Road District, at a meeting this week, ordered advertisements published for bids for erecting a steel bridge over the large drainage ditch that cuts the Rock Levee Road, and which is now spanned by a temporary wooden bridge.

After being closed for five weeks, in conformity with the influenza ban, Cape Girardeau's public schools opened yesterday morning with an attendance of 70 percent of normal.

-- Sharon K. Sanders