Out of the past: Oct. 22

1997

Two men who narrowly escaped being struck by a vehicle as they left the Community Counseling Center in Cape Girardeau yesterday afternoon say someone was watching out for them; a third man in the party, Jeffrey Slinkard, 27, was struck and is in stable condition at a local hospital; three other people, including the driver of the vehicle that struck Slinkard, were also injured; the accident occurred at 12:35 p.m. Tuesday at the intersection of South Silver Springs and Bloomfield roads; Mozelle D. Jarvis, 81, of Sikeston, Missouri, was southbound on Silver Springs when her vehicle clipped a northbound truck at the intersection; Jarvis' vehicle traveled down the embankment, hit a large rock in a landscaped area in front of the counseling center, hit Slinkard, who was walking out of the building, and then hit the building itself.

This year's pumpkin crop may not be the best ever in Southeast Missouri and southern Illinois, but it could rank among the best years of the 1990s; growers and vegetable specialists agree that the 1997 crop is a good one, and that people looking for pumpkins -- giant, jack-o-lantern or minis -- should be able to find them.

1972

An open house is held at Cape LaCroix Apartments, the Cloverleaf Development Co.'s new housing complex on Bloomfield Street; visitors inspect buildings providing single and two-bedroom units, as well as townhouse apartments of two- and three-bedroom arrangements; several of the apartments have already been rented; the remainder of the 12-building, 125-unit facility will be completed next spring.

Dr. Ronald P. Wiederaenders, first vice president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, is guest minister at Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau; in addition to the morning worship services, he also speaks at the fall rally of the Cape Girardeau Zone of the Lutheran Laymen's League in the afternoon at the parish school.

1947

Although predictions were that the gasoline situation would be eased this month, distributors and service station operators are still finding themselves, after three months of a shortage, without the supplies needed for full-scale operations; the gasoline shortage -- it appears somewhat synthetic because more is being refined than ever before, but is being used in even greater quantities -- started last summer.

Cape Girardeau County's 'coon dog owners are grooming their hunting packs as they prepare for the second annual field trials Sunday at the John V. Priest farm west of Jackson, under the sponsorship of the Cape County chapter of the Missouri Conservation Federation; preliminary reports to the committee in charge -- Elmer Thompson of Cape Girardeau and Howard Shaner and Allen A. Reed of Jackson -- predict 40 owners and more than 100 hounds will be on hand for the event.

1922

The interior of Trinity Lutheran Hall, 42 N. Pacific St., is being redecorated; some of the rooms are being re-papered and some repainted; in the last year Trinity Hall has become a social gathering place by all the people of the Lutheran congregation and a large number of outsiders; it is used for a meeting place of all the societies and various clubs of the church and is an ideal place for parties.

A dedication ceremony is held for St. James Evangelical Church near Oak Ridge; the church, blown down by a heavy wind during the summer, has been practically rebuilt by the members, and it is now one of the most handsome edifices in the rural communities of Cape Girardeau County.

-- Sharon K. Sanders