Out of the past: Oct. 14

1993

A variety store which has had a Cape Girardeau connection for almost 80 years is one of more than 700 Woolworth Corp. stores targeted for closure under the latest cutback announced by the firm; when the store, located in the Town Plaza Shopping Center, will shut its doors isn't known.

City sales tax revenue is growing at near record rates, revealing a steady recovery from the flat sales of two years ago; this summer's devastating flood apparently had little effect on sales in Cape Girardeau as tax receipts since July are up 7.3 percent over totals for the same period last year.

1968

Heavy rains coming in a short period in the morning caused damage to various roads in the county and resulting floodwaters are expected to damage considerable acreages of bottomland corn; heaviest reported rainfall is at Millersville, where 3.2 inches fall in a few hours, putting Byrds Creek out of its banks and sending Whitewater Creek on a fast rise.

Before going on to its normal meeting, the Cape Girardeau Board of Education takes a trial run on Central High School's driving simulators, which were installed this year; the equipment consists of 12 driver's seats with all the driving controls and a large screen on which a film is shown; the film takes the drivers through various driving maneuvers, while a master console records the driving errors for each of the 12 operators.

1943

Southeast Missouri teachers are back in Cape Girardeau for their 68th annual meeting, during which they will hear from noted speakers on various phases of the postwar program; the main addresses in the morning are delivered by Professor John Rufi of the University of Missouri, the president of the Missouri Teachers Association, and H. Roe Bartle, Boy Scout executive at Kansas City, Missouri.

A Missouri Wing Command of the Civil Air Patrol is to be formed in Cape Girardeau under direction of Harry E. Scheper; the unit will be assigned specific duties, under direction of the Army Air Forces.

1918

At the urging of Mayor H.H. Haas, Judge David P. Dyer adjourns the October term of Federal Court in the morning after passing on only a few cases of minor importance; Haas urged Dyer to adjourn court as a precaution against spreading the Spanish influenza.

Cape Girardeau city official express the belief that the Spanish influenza wave, which has been gradually taking hold of Cape Girardeau, is now well in hand, as only two new cases were reported up to noon and only five had been reported on Saturday and Sunday, compared with more than a dozen a day for Thursday and Friday; while the situation here is apparently improved, conditions at Illmo and Fornfelt and other towns to the south of here are much worse.

-- Sharon K. Sanders