Today is Wednesday, Dec. 11, the 345th day of 2002. There are 20 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Wednesday, Dec. 11, the 345th day of 2002. There are 20 days left in the year. On this date in 1936, Britain's King Edward VIII abdicates the throne in order to marry American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson.
In 1792, France's King Louis XVI goes before the Convention to face charges of treason. (Louis is convicted, and executed the following month.) In 1872, America's first black governor takes office as Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback becomes acting governor of Louisiana. In 1928, police in Buenos Aires thwart an attempt on the life of President-elect Herbert Hoover. In 1937, Italy withdraws from the League of Nations. In 1941, Germany and Italy declare war on the United States; the U.S. responds in kind. In 1946, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established. In 1961, a U.S. aircraft carrier carrying Army helicopters arrives in Saigon -- the first direct American military support for South Vietnam's battle against Communist guerrillas. In 1981, the U.N. Security Council chooses Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru to be the fifth secretary-general of the world body. In 1991, a jury in West Palm Beach, Fla., acquits William Kennedy Smith of sexual assault and battery, rejecting the allegations of Patricia Bowman.
December 11, 1977: As the American steel industry shrinks, so does Wean United Inc., but because the foreign steel industry is growing, there will always be a Wean United. So says R.J. Wean Jr., president and chief executive officer, in an interview with The Vindicator's T.V. Petzinger Jr.
The head of a private group that helps minorities obtain contracts says he is seeking a federal investigation of the firm that will supply materials to Youngstown's $1.2 million Federal Plaza extension project because he thinks it is a "dummy company."
Atty. James "Ted" Roberts is named chairman of the local March of Dimes Youngstown Mothers' March against birth defects.
The Lordstown General Motors Assembly Division has spent in excess of $2 million since 1975 improving and expanding its wastewater treatment facilities.
December 11, 1962: One young woman and 10 men who pleaded innocent to charges of participating either as drivers or observers in a drag racing incident receive a blistering reprimand from Judge DeJute in Niles Municipal Court. They are due back in court Dec. 21. One spectator who pleaded no contest was fined $200.
The cold spell continues in the Mahoning Valley, with the mercury dropping to zero overnight.
Mahoning County commissioners, happy over a new $2.1 million county nursing home that is about to open, are equally glum over not knowing what to do with the relic on Herbert Road.
The Curbstone Coaches hit the jackpot, hearing from five college football coaches during a luncheon at the Tod Hotel. The coaches are Chalmers "Bump" Elliott, Michigan head coach; Bill Happel, Iowa U. assistant; John "Jocko" Nelson, assistant at Michigan; Dike Beede, Youngstown University head coach, and John Hogan, Cornell assistant.
December 11, 1952: A sharp increase in pedestrian accidents prompts a warning from Police Chief Edward J. Allen of the dangers caused by crowded downtown streets during night time shopping hours.
The government is working on a new immigration policy under which crewmen of foreign ships docking in the United States must answer questions about their political leanings before they can be permitted to go ashore.
Dr. and Mrs. Foster C. Anderson celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary at the Youngstown Club. The Andersons, both the children of ministers, were married in Warren Dec. 10, 1902. He is the minister at Lowellville Methodist Church. Among those attending are the couples sons, Dr. Hurst H. Anderson, president of American University, Washington, D.C., and Dr. Paul Anderson, president of Pennsylvania College for Women in Pittsburgh.
December 11, 1927: Christmas shopping fever strikes downtown Youngstown with full force. A crowded New York subway station had nothing on Youngstown's "main drag" when the hustling mobs of Christmas shoppers descended onto Federal St. at noon.
The "Happy Family Rum Routers," the most extraordinary undercover dry agent quartet ever to work in Trumbull County is retiring. The middle-aged man and woman, a young man of 22 years and a girl of 17 or 18 worked together for six weeks, netting 24 arrests, 22 convictions and $7,100 in fines.
In a letter to C.B. Beatty, East Liverpool pottery sales manager who is running for governor, Ohio Gov. Vic Donahey says that he plans to retire from politics at the end of his present term. Beatty ran on a wet platform in previous campaigns for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, being defeated by Donahey in 1924 and 1926.