__Dec. 16, 1948__
• The last-minute shopper is the bane of the counter clerk — but for the next seven shopping days, he’s the hope of the merchants of Poplar Bluff and the nation in general. For six weeks now, retail sales have been falling behind those in similar weeks last year, but last Saturday (Dec. 11) was the first actually good day of the shopping season in Poplar Bluff, according to several downtown merchants.
“Looks like everybody wants to do the Christmas shopping in one day,” one merchant said. However, he added every day from then until Christmas would have to be nearly as good as that one before Poplar Bluff stores would show an increase in business over last year.
• “Hurry, hurry, hurry!” chanted Postmaster Z. Lee Stokely today in a final warning to tardy mailers of traditional Yuletide greetings. He said all Christmas cards for local delivery should be on their way at least a week before Christmas.
“If your Christmas cards aren’t in the mail pickup boxes by Friday night (Dec. 17), some may possibly not be delivered until after Christmas Day,” Stokely said.
Dec. 16, 1923, and Dec. 16, 1973 — No editions available.
Dec. 17, 1923
• Missouri residents Robert S. Brookings, Thomas J. Akins and E. Mont Reily were on the list of President Calvin Coolidge’s callers Saturday (Dec. 15) in Washington, D.C. Akins, who is a veteran Missouri Republican National Committeeman, talked with the President on behalf of former Poplar Bluffian David W. Hill, who is a candidate for a federal judgeship. Akins insisted to Coolidge that Hill has the finest endorsements of any of the candidates for the judgeship and Hill’s appointment would meet with general approval.
• The Western Union Telegraph Company is making very material improvements along the Cairo branch of the Missouri Pacific railway. The pole line between Poplar Bluff and Charleston is to be renewed, which will mean better service between the towns along the line and also for other cities.
__Dec. 17, 1948__
• The flag will go up Monday (Dec. 20) at 10 a.m. over the new Veterans Administration hospital. That means the top-most part of the large structure has been reached and it is somewhat of an occasion for the contractors on all federal projects. The concrete superstructure for this building is nearing completion and construction of other buildings in the hospital unit, including dwellings, nurses home and others, are moving along rapidly.
• U.S. Army engineers have returned here to resume final surveys for the East Poplar Bluff flood control project and the Butler County project which was delayed several weeks ago when some property owners in the county objected. An injunction was granted in circuit court here prohibiting the objectors from interfering with the work of the engineers in making their surveys.
__Dec. 17, 1973__
• If gas rationing does come to Butler County as a result of the energy crisis, it will affect the county and its roughly 13,100 cars much less drastically than it did during World War II, when the sinking of ships by Nazi submarines made rationing necessary. During World War II, rationing was so strict that the speed limit was lowered to 35 miles per hour. Basic rations were as low as three gallons per week at one point during the war.
• The Three Rivers Community College men’s basketball team had little trouble on the boards Saturday night (Dec. 15) and were hitting as the Raiders rolled to a 100-61 victory over Jefferson at the Poplar Bluff High School gymnasium. With the win, TRCC improved to 4-3 on the season and are off until after New Year’s. Lee Stevens led the Raiders with 21 points.
__Dec. 18, 1923__
• The proposed boulevard ordinance which came before the Poplar Bluff City Council last night (Dec. 17) was not rushed through as expected from some quarters, but was put only on first reading and held for further perusal. The ordinance proposes that Main, Vine and Ninth streets and Broadway be boulevards for automobiles and have the right-of-way over intersecting streets. It also proposes cars approaching from from intersecting streets come to a complete stop and cars passing in either direction on the boulevard streets have the right-of-way.
• Leo Peterson, 17, who is wanted in McDougal, Arkansas for allegedly stealing a horse, was arrested this afternoon south of the Marshall farm, six miles south of Poplar Bluff. He was working for Tom Grayson, a well-known farmer. Peterson is charged with stealing the horse and allegedly trading it for another one. The horse Peterson allegedly traded the stolen one for was said to have been in Peterson’s keeping when he was arrested.
__Dec. 18, 1948__
• Bishop Ivan Lee Holt of the Missouri District of the Methodist Church will be in Poplar Bluff tomorrow afternoon (Dec. 19) when First Methodist Church lays the cornerstone of its new $200,000 building. The beginning of construction on the new building is the culmination of many years of patient effort on the part of the church’s members. Main Street between Fifth and Alice streets will be closed to traffic during the cornerstone-laying ceremony.
• Twenty teams composed of members of the Jaycees, Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts will drive through Poplar Bluff street by street tomorrow afternoon (Dec. 19) to collect gifts for the needy in the community. The Jaycees have requested gifts of clothing, bedding, toys and more, all of which must be clean and usable. The gifts will be wrapped and boxed Monday night (Dec. 20) by the Jaycees and their wives.
__Dec. 18, 1973__
• At its regular meeting last night (Dec. 17), the Poplar Bluff City Council was presented with a model of the proposed multi-level public parking garage slated for the old Post Office-Gibbons Hotel site and also heard an updated report on the long-delayed sewer project for northwest Poplar Bluff.
Since it was an informal workshop session, the only action the council took was to approve a one-year extension of an option by the Rowe Furniture Corporation on the purchase of a 27-acre tract of land in the Black River Industrial Park on the East Side.
• The Poplar Bluff Elks Lodge held its third annual sports celebrity night at the club honoring the outstanding athletes for 1973. Buddy Godwin, who won the Missouri State Amateur golf championship and a number of other golf titles, was named as the athlete of the year.