Today is Tuesday, Oct. 7, the 280th day of 2003. There are 85 days left in the year. On this date in

Today is Tuesday, Oct. 7, the 280th day of 2003. There are 85 days left in the year. On this date in 1777, the second Battle of Saratoga begins during the American Revolution. British forces under Gen. John Burgoyne surrender 10 days later.
In 1849, author Edgar Allan Poe dies in Baltimore, Md., at age 40. In 1940, Artie Shaw and his Orchestra record Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust" for RCA Victor. In 1960, Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy and Republican opponent Richard M. Nixon hold the second of their broadcast debates. In 1963, President Kennedy signs the documents of ratification for a nuclear test ban treaty with Britain and the Soviet Union. In 1968, the Motion Picture Association of America adopts its film-rating system. In 1982, the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical "Cats" opens on Broadway. The show closes Sept. 10, 2000, after a record 7,485 performances. In 1985, Palestinian gunmen hijack the Italian cruise ship "Achille Lauro" in the Mediterranean with more than 400 people aboard. In 2001, the United States and Britain launch military strikes in Afghanistan.
October 7, 1978: Directors of Sharon Steel Corp. authorize a third phase of its capital-improvements program, approving an additional $7.5 million expenditure for new equipment and equipment replacement at the company's steel division in Farrell, Pa.
Floyd Kalber, news anchorman on NBC's "Today Show," tells the Downtown Youngstown Kiwanis club that courtroom attacks on freedom of the press are, by extension, attacks on the constitutional rights of the people themselves. Some courts have declared open season on newsmen, Kalber says.
Mahoning County's impoverished alcoholics will become the problem of the general hospitals and jails unless money can be found to help them at the Alcoholic Clinic of Youngstown. Woodside Receiving Hospital is no longer admitting patients solely for the disease of alcoholism.
October 7, 1963: Equipment Operator Third Class Edward E. Alls-house of New Castle, Pa., is one of two navy men missing after a hurricane swept through Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Their Jeep was swept away by the swollen waters of Guantanamo River in a remote part of the base.
Revelations being made by mobster Joe Valachi before the U.S. Senate rackets subcommittee may stun the public at large, but in the words of a Niles man familiar with the racket picture for many years, "What's so new about all this?"
The Little Hoover Commission recommends that more than 200 brands be removed from the shelves of Ohio's liquor outlets because the marginal brands constitute only 5 percent of the sales. The commission, which is studying the efficiency of the 30-year-old department that was established when Prohibition was repealed, also recommends an aggressive attitude toward providing new outlets, including self-serve state stores.
Fire routs 14 members of two families from an eight-unit condemned house at 26-28 Blaine Ave. on Youngstown's East Side. Firemen from six companies fought the stubborn blaze for four hours.
October 7, 1953: Assurance that a WFMJ-TV tower that is to be erected north of Bennett School at Mabel and Homestead streets meets "every possible safety consideration" is given to the Board of Education by Truscon Steel Division of Republic Steel Corp., which is erecting the tower.
Warren City Council takes the first step toward creating a municipal parking lot in Perkins Park, which would be connected to the downtown business district with a sidewalk shortcut.
The Jenkins Sign Co. is tearing down a political billboard on Belmont Ave. across from St. Elizabeth Hospital after Building Inspector Robert L. Findlay orders its removal. The sign advocated the re-election of Mayor Charles P. Henderson and the election of John P. Gillespie as council president. Third Ward Councilman Anthony Flask complained during a council meeting that the billboard violated the setback line on Belmont Ave.
An Albert St. man who pleaded guilty to driving 70 mph in McGuffey Road is fined $15 and costs by Municipal Judge Forrest J. Cavalier. l
October 7, 1928: A Canton stunt flier who frightened women in the party of Myer Y. Cooper, Republican candidate for governor, by buzzing the stands at the Mount Union-Michigan football game will be arrested, police say. The pilot roared over the Mount Union field several times in an Alliance-built Argo biplane, reportedly missing the stands, which held 8,000 fans, by only a few feet.
Mercer County District Attorney Leo McKay is named in a $25,000 damage suit filed in Federal Court in Pittsburgh by a Brookfield Township, Ohio, woman who charges that Mc-Kay and other men entered her Trumbull County home without a warrant about midnight Sept. 28 in search of liquor. She says she was struck in the face and chest during the raid.
The Radio Corporation of America purchases an interest in the Keith-Albee Orpheum Inc., operator of the Keith-Albee theaters. Keith-Albee has been making plans to go into the sound picture business, making films with a process developed by RCA.