Today is Saturday, Dec. 20, the 354th day of 2003. There are 11 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Saturday, Dec. 20, the 354th day of 2003. There are 11 days left in the year. On this date in 1803, the Louisiana Purchase is completed as ownership of the territory is formally transferred from France to the United States during ceremonies in New Orleans.
In 1860, South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the Union. In 1864, Confederate forces evacuate Savannah, Ga., as Union Gen. William T. Sherman continues his "March to the Sea." In 1879, Thomas A. Edison privately demonstrates his incandescent light at Menlo Park, N.J. In 1945, the Office of Price Administration announces the end of tire rationing, effective Jan. 1, 1946. In 1963, the Berlin Wall is opened for the first time to West Berliners, who are allowed one-day visits to relatives in the Eastern sector for the holidays. In 1968, author John Steinbeck dies in New York at age 66. In 1976, Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley dies at age 74. In 1978, former White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman is released from prison after serving 18 months for his role in the Watergate cover-up.
December 20, 1978: Commercial Shearing Inc., citing favorable marketing prospects for its products in 1979, could well improve on its record-breaking 1978 performance, in which it topped the $200 million mark in sales for the first time.
A retired Struthers teacher and football coach, Donald M. Koma, 71, and his wife, Henrietta, 67, die when fire sweeps through the bedroom of their home at 41 Wilson Ave.
A small family catering service begun 20 years ago by John Valley in a North Side apartment has grown into House of Valley, which serves more than 5,000 meals a day at schools and a senior citizens housing complex.
December 20, 1963: The Ohio Bell Telephone Co. will begin construction in the spring of a $4.5 million microwave transmission system between Cleveland and Cincinnati, with tributaries to Youngstown, Akron and Marietta. A small microwave system presently connects Youngstown and Canton with Cleveland.
General Motors Corp. sells the No. 6 plant of its Packard Electric Division to the Halsey W. Taylor Co. for $350,000.
The Youngstown Post Office has processed 13.2 million pieces of mail since Dec. 1, Postmaster Chester Bailey reports, which is just 37,000 pieces shy of what was handled during the same period in 1962.
December 20, 1953: A good upturn in steel demand in 1954's first quarter is predicted by Tom M. Girdler, chairman, and Charles M. White, president of Republic Steel Corp., indicating a big back-to-work movement by hundreds of Youngstown district steelworkers after New Year's Day.
A Youngstown bureau of fire prevention will investigate conditions at a seven-family apartment building at 565 New Court, scene of a gasoline explosion that took the life of Ernie Scott, 23.
The Radio Corporation of America unveils an experimental radio that fits in the palm of a person's hand. Transistors replace vacuum tubes in the device, which weighs less than a pound and is only 51/8 inches long, 2 inches high and 15/8 inches deep.
December 20, 1928: Two men who admit that they participated in a hold-up of a Campbell gambling house are bound over to the Mahoning County grand jury after pleading not guilty.
Youngstown Board of Zoning Appeals issues permits for the construction of a Mahoning Ice Co. plant at Indianola Avenue and an addition to the Ice & amp; Fuel Co. plant in West Federal Street.
The Army announces that it has conducted the satisfactory refueling of an airplane while in flight. A supply ship transferred fuel to a trimotored Fokker army plane at 1,500 feet over West Alabama.