Out of the past: Sept. 24

1998

Kerry Robinson is finally living the life of a major-league baseball player -- and he's loving every minute of it; Robinson, a former Southeast Missouri State University standout, was called up to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays late Friday night and joined the team Saturday; he didn't see any action in the Devil Rays' first four games since being promoted, but finally played Tuesday night in a loss at Boston; Robinson went to left field in the sixth inning and wound up grounding out in his only plate appearance.

A junior high school student is leading efforts in Jackson to prevent gun violence from invading the schools; Jennifer Rhodes, 13, an eighth-grader at Jackson Junior High, is spearheading a pledge drive in Jackson that asks students to promise they will never carry a gun to school, will never resolve disputes with a gun and will use their influence with friends to keep them from resolving disputes with guns.

1973

A crowd of more than 1,000 people jammed Kent Library at Southeast Missouri State University Sunday afternoon, Sept. 23, 1973, for dedication ceremonies of a mural depicting the area's history painted by Jake Wells. Here, Wells, left, and university president Dr. Mark F. Scully watch as the massive piece of artwork is unveiled.Southeast Missourian archive

A crowd of more than 1,000 people jammed Kent Library at Southeast Missouri State University Sunday afternoon, Sept. 23, 1973, for dedication ceremonies of a mural depicting the area's history painted by Jake Wells. Here, Wells, left, and university president Dr. Mark F. Scully watch as the massive piece of artwork is unveiled.Southeast Missourian archive

The mural which artist Jack Wells referred to as "some thoughts on a wall" was formally dedicated yesterday afternoon at Kent Library, officially opening Southeast Missourian's observance of its centennial; keynote speaker was Rush H. Limbaugh, a SEMO alumnus and recipient of the university's Alumni Merit Award; more than 1,000 persons attended the dedication.

GALE, Ill. -- The Army Corps of Engineers says a breach in the main-line Mississippi River levee north of Gale, if not repaired by winter, could become a major cause of flooding during the river rise next spring, jeopardizing over 50,000 acres of land in Southern Illinois; the Corps' St. Louis office has recommended that it be permitted to go ahead with the repairs; the recommendation was included in a report submitted to the division office at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and then to Chief of Engineers in Washington, D.C.

1948

Cape Pictures Inc., which operates the Esquire Theater in Cape Girardeau, has dismissed its suits for damages against two motion picture companies, Warner Brothers and the Universal Film Distributing Co., it is disclosed in Federal Court; the suit against the other defendants stands.

ST. LOUIS -- Regarding the seizure yesterday of ballots cast in one ward at Sikeston, Missouri, in the August 3 primary, U.S. Attorney Drake Watson says there is no suspicion of irregularities in the election; he says the ballots and poll books used in Precinct 2, of Richland Township, were impounded in an effort to secure handwriting samples of three men indicted last May on charges of forging and altering ballots in the 1946 primary there; they were election judges in 1946.

1923

The annual Cape Fair closed Saturday night with one of the biggest crowds of the event following a week of the most inclement weather that ever interfered with the fair; chilly temperatures, sending many persons into their overcoats, followed close on the heels of rain early in the week, reducing the attendance every day by thousands.

Wire to supply the connection between the Cape Girardeau and Poplar Bluff, Missouri, electric power plants of the Missouri Public Utilities Co. is being strung at a rate of a mile per day between Sikeston and Dexter, Missouri, the missing link in the continuous circuit planned by the company; at the present rate, the circuit should be completed by Oct. 15; under the plan of the company, either the Cape Girardeau or Poplar Bluff plants -- the largest in this district, can furnish all of the adjoining towns with current in case of a breakdown at one of them.

-- Sharon K. Sanders