Today is Monday, Dec. 2, the 336th day of 2002. There are 29 days left in the year. On this date in

Today is Monday, Dec. 2, the 336th day of 2002. There are 29 days left in the year. On this date in 1942, a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction is demonstrated for the first time at the University of Chicago.
In 1804, Napoleon is crowned emperor of France. In 1823, President Monroe outlines his doctrine opposing European expansion in the Western Hemisphere. In 1859, militant abolitionist John Brown is hanged for his raid on Harper's Ferry the previous October. In 1927, Ford Motor Co. unveils its Model A automobile, the successor to its Model T. In 1939, New York's La Guardia Airport begins operations as an airliner from Chicago lands one minute after midnight. In 1954, the Senate votes to condemn Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute." In 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency begins operating under director William Ruckelshaus. In 1980, four American church women are raped, murdered and buried outside San Salvador, El Salvador. (Five national guardsmen are convicted in the killings.) In 1982, in the first operation of its kind, doctors at the University of Utah Medical Center implant a permanent artificial heart in the chest of retired dentist Dr. Barney Clark, who lives 112 days with the device. In 1991, American hostage Joseph Cicippio, held captive in Lebanon for more than five years, is released.
December 2, 1977: Three Austintown boys, two 16 and one 17, admit to police that they have been responsible for 39 house burglaries in the township since mid-October.
Oho Gov. James A Rhodes vetoes a collective bargaining bill for Ohio's 500,000 public employees. The bill would have continued to prohibit strikes by firemen and policemen, but would have established a conciliation mechanism when public employees and employers were at an impasse.
Woody Hayes, Ohio State coach, is put on probation for taking a swing at a television cameraman during a football game in November. Big Ten Commissioner Wayne Duke publicly reprimands Hayes.
December 2, 1962: Reports are circulating that the chief numbers racketeers in Youngstown have agreed to hold a three-week Christmas moratorium on "bug" playing. The decision was motivated by the attention that has been drawn to illegal gambling in the wake of the Cavallaro bombing.
The 32nd annual edition of the Alias Santa Claus Club show sponsored by Esther Hamilton, Vindicator columnist, plays to a standing-room only audience of 3,000 in Stambaugh Auditorium. An unbelievable $55,339 is raised for the Christmas fund.
Downtown Warren, which is dotted with more empty stores than most can remember, is beginning what looks to be a long fight to regain the top position in shopper preference in the area.
December 2, 1952: A new salary schedule for Youngstown Board of Education employees is adopted that will give all teachers a $300 increase, bringing the new minimum for a teacher with a bachelor's degree to $3,100.
Bids will be taken to completely rebuild the gymnasium at the Rayen School. Whole sections of the ceiling have fallen and sections of the floor have heaved up and rotted.
The Youngstown district has become one of the nation's most important aluminum working districts, producing about half the aluminum extrusions made in the whole country in 1951, says Carl Gangloff, secretary of the Greater Youngstown Area Foundation.
December 2, 1927: The Rev. Billy Sunday, former National League baseball player and famous evangelist who held meetings in Youngstown 18 years ago, is returning to the city Dec. 20.
Clarence Parker of Struthers is sentenced to 10 days in county jail on a charge of contempt of court for allegedly approaching a tentative juror in the trial of three men accused of killing Milton Township farmhand Tony Popo.
The Mahoning River, which rose to its highest flood level since the flood of 1913, begins to recede. The flood waters forced a shutdown of the Republic Iron and Steel Co.'s Bessemer plant employing about 1,000 men at the South Ave. bridge.