Today is Wednesday, Oct. 8, the 281st day of 2003. There are 84 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Wednesday, Oct. 8, the 281st day of 2003. There are 84 days left in the year. On this date in 1871, the Great Chicago Fire erupts while another deadly blaze breaks out in Peshtigo, Wis.
In 1869, the 14th president of the United States, Franklin Pierce, dies in Concord, N.H. In 1890, American aviation hero Eddie Rickenbacker is born in Columbus, Ohio. In 1918, Sgt. Alvin C. York almost single-handedly kills 25 German soldiers and capture 132 in the Argonne Forest in France. In 1934, Bruno Hauptmann is indicted for murder in the death of the infant son of Charles A. Lindbergh. In 1945, President Truman announced that the secret of the atomic bomb would be shared only with Britain and Canada. In 1956, Don Larsen pitches the only perfect game in a World Series to date as the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 2-0. In 1970, Soviet author Alexander Solzhenitsyn is named winner of the Nobel Prize for literature. In 1982, all labor organizations in Poland, including Solidarity, are banned. In 1985, the hijackers of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro kill American passenger Leon Klinghoffer. In 1992, Former West German Chancellor Willy Brandt dies in Unkel, Germany, at age 78.
October 8, 1978: Bingo licenses for Warren Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 34 and two church-related organizations in Warren are revoked by the Ohio Attorney General's office for violating state bingo laws.
Trumbull County is being asked to increase its funding to Hillside Hospital, or it may see the county-owned rehabilitation center lose its accreditation.
The first half Vindicator straw poll of the 19th Congressional District indicates that Republican Lyle Williams would receive 55 percent of the vote and Democratic Incumbent Charles Carney would receive 45 percent
October 8, 1963: Hurricane Flora, flailing and flooding Cuba for a fifth day, whirls slowly north, heading for the Bahamas. Between 2,000 and 4,000 Cubans are feared dead and 100,000 are homeless.
The Idora Park Ballroom is filled to capacity for the kickoff of Youngstown's United Appeal. H. Roe Bartle, former mayor of Kansas City, mesmerizes the 1,000 campaign workers in attendance.
The Citizens' Association of Metropolitan Youngstown will interview both Mayor Harry N. Savasten, Republican, and Anthony B. Flask, Democrat, in separate half-hour television shows before the Nov. 5 election.
October 8, 1953: The body of Bobby Greenlease, 6, is recovered from a shallow grave in St. Joseph, Mo., after two people are arrested as his kidnappers, after payment of a record $600,000 ransom.
Ohio librarians are sponsoring passage of a new law under which a book would have to be declared obscene by the courts before a dealer could be arrested for selling the publication. The proposal is made by James C. Foutts, librarian at Youngstown Pubic Library, during the state conference of librarians in Columbus.
The season's first killing frost lays a white blanket over the Mahoning Valley, nipping tomatoes, grapes and late-flowering plants.
October 8, 1928: Elaborate preparations are being made for observance of the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Baptist Church in Warren. The Rev. Custer C. Rich is pastor of First Baptist Church of Warren.
Seventeen convict employees in the state-owned brick plant at Junction City, Ohio, are believed to have perished in a fire that swept through the dormitory in which 275 prisoners were sleeping. One Mahoning County man and one Trumbull County man are among the missing.
A threat to seek the recall of Mayor Joseph Heffernan unless he resigns or answers charges made against him by A.J. Aubrey, ousted water commissioner, is made in a letter mailed to the mayor and signed by the "Nonpartisan Voters League," of which former Youngstown Councilman Joe E. James is secretary.