Out of the past: Oct. 14

1997

The region said goodbye to summer weather as a cold front moved through the area yesterday, dropping temperatures and rain; the day started in the 70s, but dropped to 58 degrees by 8:15 a.m. and to 53 degrees by 4 p.m.; many residents welcome the cooler temperatures, as the first part of October was unseasonably warm.

The City of Cape Girardeau approved extending water service to the new Notre Dame High School yesterday; under the agreement, the city will pay $281,500 to Drury Southwest Inc., for constructing the water line in lieu of the city providing fixtures and other equipment for the water line, and the high school site and several other parcels of property along Route K will be annexed into the city, including the James L. Drury and Wanda L. Drury Real Estate Trust, at total of about 138 acres.

1972

Efforts to hold back Cape LaCroix Creek floodwaters in and near Cape Girardeau inch ahead when the House Committee on Public Works authorizes the Army Corps of Engineers to study the feasibility of constructing flood control facilities along the stream; straightening the creek and construction of one or more reservoirs are among the recommendations to be studied.

The P.N. Hirsch Co., this week moved into its new 9,200-square-foot store in Jackson, built and leased to the retail firm by Bernard Schaper, who operates a retail grocery outlet in the same complex; the store was formerly located in the Brase estate building on Main Street, across from the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse.

1947

Cape Girardeau Mayor R.E. Beckman announces, following a conference yesterday with the County Court and O.C. Duncan, director of the County Health Office, that rental on the County Medical Welfare Clinic will be continued on a temporary basis; at a meeting last week, the Cape Girardeau City Council ordered that payment of rent be halted and recommended that its offices be moved to the quarters of the County Welfare office, through which the clinic clears its patients.

Col. R.E. Smyser Jr., district engineer for the St. Louis District, informs Mayor R.E. Beckman funds have been made available for undertaking revision of the flood control plan for Cape Girardeau; the study will include the Red Star area.

1922

O.J. Mathias, superintendent of schools at Desloge, Missouri, is elected president of the Southeast Missouri Teachers Association at the closing session of the 47th annual meeting at the Teachers College; Mathias succeeds Vest C. Meyers of Charleston, head of the association for the past year.

Damage suits aggregating more than $100,000 brought against the Little River Drainage District for alleged damages caused by the construction of ditches to drain swamp land in Southeast Missouri will be settled by the Supreme Court; the St. Louis Court of Appeals, which decided for the district, later denied an appeal in the case, and attorneys here announced that the test case will go to the Supreme Court; fate of all the suits brought by farmers and residents of Cape Girardeau County to secure damages from the district or alleged injuries to property by the reason of the construction of the ditches will depend on this test case.

-- Sharon K. Sanders