Today is Tuesday, Aug. 19, the 231st day of 2003. There are 134 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 19, the 231st day of 2003. There are 134 days left in the year. On this date in 1812, the USS Constitution defeats the British frigate Guerriere east of Nova Scotia during the War of 1812.
In 1848, the New York Herald reports the discovery of gold in California. In 1929, the comedy program Amos and Andy, starring Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, makes its network radio debut on NBC. In 1934, a plebiscite in Germany approves the vesting of sole executive power in Adolf Hitler. In 1942, about 6,000 Canadian and British soldiers launch a disastrous raid against the Germans at Dieppe, France, suffering about 50 percent casualties. In 1955, severe flooding in the Northeast claims some 200 lives. In 1960, a tribunal in Moscow convicts American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers of espionage. In 1974, U.S. Ambassador Rodger P. Davies is fatally wounded by a bullet that penetrates the American embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus, during a protest by Greek Cypriots. In 1976, President Ford wins the Republican presidential nomination at the party's convention in Kansas City. In 1977, comedian Groucho Marx dies in Los Angeles at age 86. In 1991, Soviet hard-liners announce to a shocked world that President Mikhail S. Gorbachev has been removed from power. The coup collapses two days later.
August 19, 1978: Pictured in an Associated Press photo, Bill Joyce and John McPheron, appearing as Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy during the Grand Parade of Tents at the First International Convention of the Sons of the Desert in Chicago. Chapters of the Laurel and Hardy fan club are called tents and are named after movies. The Youngstown chapter is named for "Helpmates."
An experimental solid waste recycling plant proposed for the old city dump in Niles receives positive reviews during a meeting of area government and utilities officials.
General Motors Corp. sets prices for its 1979 models an average of $302 higher than its 1978 models, an increase of 4.1 percent. The company says the modest increase is meant to help decelerate inflation.
August 19, 1963: Mahoning County Democratic organization leaders plan an all-out effort to nominate council President Anthony B. Flask for mayor of Youngstown and Atty. Joseph E. O'Neill for council president. Besides Flask, state Rep. Thomas Barrett is seeking the mayoral nomination vacated by his ailing brother, Richard.
Atty. Daniel L. Rossi, Mahoning County administrator, will meet with legal counsel for a district coal company to discuss the possibility of selling the old county home site in Herbert Road for strip mining.
August 19, 1953: The Boardman Citizens Committee, studying the question of incorporating the township, will report to residents by Oct. 1, says Atty. Loren Van Brocklin, chairman.
Youngstown's Ohio Sesquicentennial parade Sept. 30 will have nine divisions and take two hours to pass the reviewing stand, parade officials tell traffic men during a meeting at the Elks Club.
About 1,000 employees of Republic Steel Corp. vote unanimously to remain on the job for the time being, averting a major strike threat over the company's firing of 10 union men, including Charles Kalby, president of USW Local 1331.
August 19, 1928: Kenneth Reibley, 12, drowns in the Shenango River beneath the Silver St. bridge after jumping into the water to retrieve two $1 bills dropped by an unidentified woman. The woman told Reibley and a companion that she had dropped the money and that they could keep it if they could find it.
Flying enthusiasts from throughout Northeastern Ohio are preparing to reopen Landsdowne Field, Youngstown's municipal airport, on Labor Day.
Dormitory facilities for out-of-town girl students at Ohio State University are nearly doubled with the leasing of Neil Hall, which was constructed several years earlier as a private enterprise. Neil Hall has a capacity of 278 students.