Out of the past: Nov. 3

1993

BENTON, Mo. -- Riverboat gambling, promoted as just the economic development catalyst the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority needs, was rejected by voters in Scott County yesterday; the issue was defeated by 745 voters, as 42 percent of Scott County's 21,085 registered voters went to the polls.

After years of discussion and planning, a county-wide 911 emergency telephone service went on line yesterday morning in Cape Girardeau County; city and county officials and others who have worked to get the system gathered in the county commission's chambers for a ceremony to officially put the system online.

1968

The Rev. Richard C. Lamb of Whitehaven, Tennessee, has accepted the call to First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, which was extended to him during a congressional meeting following worship services last Sunday morning; presently, he is pastor of Gracewood Presbyterian Church, where he has served six and one-half years.

"Be bold, be constant, be true in the use of God's word," stated the Rev. Ellis T. Rottmann, pastor of Hanover Lutheran Church, initiating the Reformation observance last Sunday; today, the three other Missouri Synod Lutheran Churches -- Trinity, Good Shepherd and St. Andrew -- observe the Reformation.

1943

With coal mining at a standstill, some Cape Girardeau dealers and consumers alike are without coal; shipment of the fuel has been stopped, and some retails have been unable to get coal since last weekend.

Fred Springer has sold the former Sturdivant Bank building at Main and Themis streets to Dave Minnen and Fannie Samuels; the three-story brick building houses a store and various business offices; Springer owned the structure only six months, having bought it from Maurice Bohnsack.

1918

Fire destroys the building occupied by Logan Owens in Illmo in the morning, the contents, however, being saved; fire starts on the roof, caused by a defective flue; had the wind been blowing from the south, the entire block would probably have been destroyed, due to a lack of firefighting facilities in the town.

Today is the fourth churchless Sunday in Cape Girardeau; the city authorities have not yet lifted the ban on public meetings caused by the Spanish influenza epidemic.

-- Sharon K. Sanders