Out of the past: Nov. 20

1994

Stac Underwood of Cape Girardeau, who recently signed a country music contract on the 21st Century label in Nashville, Tennessee, is the featured guest at a gospel concert at First General Baptist Church in the evening; she has two songs that recently have been on the country music charts.

More than 700 booths are set up at three locations in Cape Girardeau as shoppers descend on arts and crafts bazaars at the Show Me Center, the Arena Building and the Holiday Inn Convention Center; between 12,000 and 15,000 persons are expected to get an early start on their Christmas shopping at the three sites.

1969

Ministers and delegates from Southeast Missouri, Northeast Arkansas and Southern Illinois begin arriving in Cape Girardeau for the three-day convention of Jehovah's Witnesses, which begins tomorrow; more than 950 persons are expected.

Southeast Missouri law enforcement officials will soon have the aid of a rudimentary crime laboratory at State College to perform certain tests, which they now have to go to Jefferson City to get; Dr. E. Lawrence Bahn Jr., head of the college chemistry department, says the lab is in the initial stages of being set up in campus facilities; as of now, it will be involved only in chemical analysis and identification.

1944

First reports indicate the Sixth War Loan campaign in Cape Girardeau County's rural areas, staged yesterday, got off to a good start in the school districts despite rain and cold weather; in Cape Girardeau, residents are scheduled to go to 21 induction centers between 3 and 9 p.m. today to make their pledges.

Turkeys, especially the large ones, will be scarce this Thanksgiving and local grocery store managers say fat hens will be substituted in Thursday's holiday dinners; turkeys available here will be mostly small ones, from 9 to 12 pounds live weight; the government has demanded most of the choice birds for those in military service.

1919

Dr. E.D. Ward has so many calls from the progressive farmers of Cape Girardeau County to test their herds of cattle for tuberculosis he has had to call for help; the state veterinarian sent Dr. A. Dixon here to help him; also helping out is Dr. C.L. Lash of the U.S. veterinary department; so far, there has been little evidence of the disease in county cattle.

Practically all of the 10 railroad car loads of coal that were allowed Cape Girardeau a few weeks ago by the state fuel administration has been removed from the coal dealers, leaving them with little on hand; the dealers report receiving hundreds of calls daily for coal, and they cannot fill the demand.

-- Sharon K. Sanders