Today is Sunday, Oct. 12, the 285th day of 2003. There are 80 days left in the year. On this date in

Today is Sunday, Oct. 12, the 285th day of 2003. There are 80 days left in the year. On this date in 1492, Christopher Columbus arrives with his expedition in the present-day Bahamas.
In 1870, Gen. Robert E. Lee dies in Lexington, Va., at age 63. In 1915, English nurse Edith Cavell is executed by the Germans in occupied Belgium during World War I. In 1933, bank robber John Dillinger escapes from a jail in Allen County, Ohio, with the help of his gang, who kills the sheriff. In 1942, during World War II, American naval forces defeat the Japanese in the Battle of Cape Esperance. In 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt delivers one of his so-called "fireside chats" in which he recommends the drafting of 18- and 19-year-old men. In 1960, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev disrupts a U.N. General Assembly session by pounding his desk with a shoe during a dispute. In 1964, the Soviet Union launches a "Voskhod" space capsule with a three-man crew on the first manned mission involving more than one crew member. In 1968, the summer Games of the 19th Olympiad officially opens in Mexico City. In 1973, President Nixon nominates House minority leader Gerald R. Ford of Michigan to succeed Spiro T. Agnew as vice president. In 1997, singer John Denver is killed in the crash of his privately built aircraft in Monterey Bay, Calif.; he was 53.
October 12, 1978: Gov. James A. Rhodes is expected to announce that the Kmart Corp. plans to construct a major distribution center near Warren.
The CASTLO executive board has been invited to a meeting at the White House to discuss the Carter administration's plans for helping the Mahoning Valley.
Rolls-Royce Inc., the big British manufacturer of jet engines, is looking at the Youngstown Municipal Airport as a site for a multimillion dollar manufacturing plant the company is considering building in the United States.
October 12, 1963: William Clark, 16, a ninth-grade student at The Rayen School, is roughed up and injured by a group of teenage boys as he walked home from the East-Chaney football game at Rayen Stadium. An unidentified man witnessed the assault and ran to Clark's aid, and the five assailants fled.
A contemporary styled clubhouse opens at Squaw Creek Country Club, replacing one that was destroyed by fire a year and a half earlier. The new structure and furnishings cost $500,000.
Albert F. Micha, 46 of Girard, is electrocuted when he comes in contact with a high voltage line in a field near the rear of Wilkoff Steel. Police believe he was walking through the field and lifted a sagging power line that was carrying 3,000 volts of electricity.
More than 200 spirited Youngstown University students kick off celebrations for YU's 23rd homecoming with a giant bonfire at Ford Hall parking lot near Wick Oval.
October 12, 1953: Youngstown boys and girls are being taught the old-fashioned way, says Superintendent Paul C. Bunn, because experience shows that teaching penmanship through extensive practice works best.
Mrs. Mildred Anderson, 45, of Euclid Blvd., Boardman, is found dead in the living room of her home, her throat cut. Police are questioning her husband.
Youngstown is one of 18 Ohio cities where laws governing the retail sale of liquor are being abused and broken because of the apathy of some employees of the Department of Liquor Control.
Poland Police Chief Clark Wagner calls for reinforcements to aid in the rout of belligerent teenagers participating in a brawl in the center of the village. Sheriff's deputies and Struthers police respond, but the three carloads of out-of-town hoodlums fled before the reinforcements arrived.
October 12, 1928: The dawn of Columbus Day in Youngstown is greeted with aerial bombs fired as a prelude to a celebration of the day by area Italian societies.
The newest method of curing deafness is introduced in Youngstown as R.C. Dumbaugh of Judson Avenue is plunged from two miles above the earth to Lansdowne Field in a Travelair biplane in an attempt to make him hear. The result was not perceptible, and a second attempt is being contemplated.
The Little Theater Club reopens "The Girl in the Taxi" at the Park Theater to an enthusiastic response by the audience. The group hopes to raise money to be used to erect their own playhouse.