Today is Tuesday, Dec. 17, the 351st day of 2002. There are 14 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 17, the 351st day of 2002. There are 14 days left in the year. On this date in 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright go on the first successful manned powered-airplane flights, near Kitty Hawk, N.C.
In 1939, the German pocket battleship Graf Spee is scuttled by its crew, ending the World War II Battle of the River Plate off Uruguay. In 1944, the U.S. Army announces it is ending its policy of excluding Japanese-Americans from the West Coast. In 1957, the United States successfully test-fires the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time. In 1975, Lynette Fromme is sentenced in federal court in Sacramento, Calif., to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President Ford. In 1981, members of the Red Brigades kidnap Brigadier General James L. Dozier, the highest-ranking U.S. Army official in southern Europe, from his home in Verona, Italy. (Dozier is rescued 42 days later.) In 1986, Eugene Hasenfus, the American convicted by Nicaragua for his part in running guns to the Contras, is pardoned, then released. In 1996, Peruvian guerrillas take hundreds of people hostage at the Japanese embassy in Lima (all but 72 of the hostages are later released by the rebels; the siege ends the following April with a commando raid that results in the deaths of all the rebels, two commandos and one hostage).
December 17, 1977: Two men being chased from the Southern Park Mall by mall security officers and Boardman police lose control of their car just inside the city limits on Glenwood Ave., killing a passenger and seriously injuring the driver.
Lawrence County Court grants a temporary injunction forbidding striking members of the United Mine Workers from interfering with operations of the Ralph A. Veon Inc. mines.
A second victim in the Girard ambush shooting outside the office of Dr. Leo DiBlasio dies. Mrs. Mary Muffley, 36, the doctor's receptionist and nurse, dies in North Side Hospital. The doctor's wife died the night of the attack and he remains hospitalized.
The Steel Communities Coalition urges the federal government to rewrite its national steel policy more to the benefit of old steel towns, like Youngstown and Campbell.
December 17, 1962: The Supreme Court of the United States refuses to review a lower court ruling that upheld Kentucky's state law prohibiting Sunday sales.
A Mahoning County sheriff's cruiser is being held by a service station operator until the county pays $12 in cash for towing the cruiser out of a ditch near the Ohio Turnpike entrance. The station operator says he put a used $6 tire on a cruiser a year ago, but the county was slow in paying so this time the cruiser won't be released until he's paid.
The Democratic majority on Youngstown City Council, the county prosecutor's office and a small goldbricking clique on the police force supported the gangster element and made the job of smashing the rackets in Youngstown more difficult, Police Chief Edward J. Allen asserts in his book, "Merchants of Menace -- the Mafia."
December 17, 1952: All cars illegally parked on downtown streets and on main arteries will be towed away, Mayor Charles P. Henderson announces.
The average housewife may not have noticed it, but the cost of meat in Youngstown has been getting gradually cheaper. Round steak, which had been selling from 99 cents to $1.04 a pound is available at 89 cents to 95 cents.
Youngstown Mayor Charles Henderson promises the arrest of all drunken drivers in the city and strict enforcement of closing hours for taverns New Year's Eve.
December 17, 1927: Helen Henderson, 5, dies in St. Elizabeth Hospital from burns received at the home of C.W. Harmon when her clothes caught fire while she was playing in the house with another girl. A neighbor, Mrs. Stephen Hill, suffered severe burns of the hands trying to smother the flames.
At least 50 children die in a fire that swept through the Hospice St. Charles Orphanage in Quebec. Thirty-seven bodies have been recovered and 13 are still missing.
Flood waters that have been threatening parts of the Mahoning and Shenango valleys recede, leaving behind another menace, streets that are covered with thick layers of ice.