Today is Thursday, Dec. 19, the 353rd day of 2002. There are 12 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Thursday, Dec. 19, the 353rd day of 2002. There are 12 days left in the year. On this date in 1843, "A Christmas Carol," by Charles Dickens, is first published in England.
In 1732, Benjamin Franklin begins publishing "Poor Richard's Almanac." In 1777, Gen. George Washington leads his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pa., to camp for the winter. In 1907, 239 workers die in a coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pa. In 1932, the British Broadcasting Corporation begins transmitting overseas with its "Empire Service" to Australia. In 1957, Meredith Willson's musical play "The Music Man" opens on Broadway. In 1972, Apollo 17 splashes down in the Pacific, winding up the Apollo program of manned lunar landings. In 1974, Nelson A. Rockefeller is sworn in as the 41st vice president of the United States. In 1986, the Soviet Union announces it has freed dissident Andrei Sakharov from internal exile, and pardoned his wife, Yelena Bonner. In 1998, President Clinton is impeached by the Republican-controlled House for perjury and obstruction of justice (he is later acquitted by the Senate).
December 19, 1977: Laid-off employees of the Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube Co.'s Campbell Works are warned by a United Steelworkers Union representative against expecting too much from the Mahoning Steel Co.'s proposed takeover of closed sections of the plant.
Former Mahoning County Deputy Sheriff Louis Jurich, one of 19 deputies fired when Sheriff Michael Yarosh took office, alleges a "cover-up" is underway to prevent him from making a direct presentation to the Mahoning County grand jury regarding alleged illegal activity within the department.
Frank Gillespie of Eastern Petroleum Services Inc. tells Trumbull County commissioners that his company plans to drill between 2,000 and 3,000 gas wells in the county over a decade or more and requests an easement to build a gas line from Southington to North Park. Ave.
December 19, 1962: U.S. Atty. Gen. Robert Kennedy may speak in Youngstown after the first of the year in response to a request from the Greater Youngstown Area League of Women Voters.
Themelis Halikos, a rugged 55-year-old Greek importer who escaped from Cuba by hiding in an oil vat on a cargo ship, has been living in Campbell for three weeks with his sister, Mrs. Anastasia Vallas.
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December 19, 1952: Roger M. Kyes, member of an old Columbiana County family and a graduate of Rayen School in Youngstown, is appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower as Deputy Secretary of Defense. Kyes, the son of Atty. and Mrs. L.M. Kyes of East Palestine, is a vice president of General Motors and general manager of its truck and coach division.
Youngstown's night skies will be lighted up Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with the flares of Bessemer converters and blast furnaces. Plants that are virtually swamped with orders will maintain full operations through the holiday.
The price of cut Christmas trees vary widely at the small lots that have sprung up on Youngstown street corners and front lawns. A scraggly 3-foot tree can be had for as little as $1.50, while the prices for a full, 14-foot evergreen is about $6.
December 19, 1927: Six U.S. submariners are known to be alive, trapped in the torpedo room of the sunken S-4 off Provincetown, Mass., but there is little hope that rescuers will be able to raise the sub in time to save the crewmen. There is no word on the other 37 crew members on the submarine when it collided with a destroyer and sank in 100 feet of water.
Skating at Crandall Park is reported good, but is prohibited at Lincoln and South Side parks until the ice is thicker.
Most of the signs used a year earlier to mark streets that were closed to auto traffic in Youngstown so that sledders could safely enjoy themselves were destroyed. Traffic commissioner Carl Olson says he has no money to make new signs.