Today is Wednesday, March 31, the 91st day of 2004. There are 275 days left in the year. On this

Today is Wednesday, March 31, the 91st day of 2004. There are 275 days left in the year. On this date in 1968, President Johnson stuns the country by announcing he would not seek another term in office.
In 1889, French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel unfurls the French tricolor from atop the Eiffel Tower, officially marking its completion. In 1917, the United States takes possession of the Virgin Islands from Denmark. In 1933, Congress authorizes the Civilian Conservation Corps. In 1943, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "Oklahoma!" opens on Broadway. In 1949, Newfoundland enters confederation as Canada's 10th province. In 1953, Stanley Kubrick's first feature film, a war drama titled "Fear and Desire," premieres in New York. In 1986, 167 people die when a Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 crash in a remote mountainous region of Mexico. In 1991, the Warsaw Pact spends the last day of its existence as a military alliance. In 1993, actor Brandon Lee, 28, is accidentally killed during the filming of a movie in Wilmington, N.C., by a prop gun. In 1995, Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez, 23, is shot to death in Corpus Christi, Texas, by Yolanda Saldivar, the founder of her fan club. (Saldivar is convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.) In 2003, American forces battle Iraqi defenders in fierce street fighting 50 miles south of Baghdad, pointing toward a drive on the capital.
March 31, 1979: Despite a steady rain, more than 3,000 men and women come to the General Motors Assembly Division in Lordstown to pick up applications for jobs at the plant A line a mile long snakes around the plant. Several hundred people arrived over night, some sleeping in tents.
Hard-line and moderate Arabs agree to a complete economic boycott of Egypt and an eventual break in diplomatic relations with Anwar Sadat, who has signed a peace agreement with Israel.
Youngtown's Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini loses a controversial split decision to Melvin Paul of Lafayette, La., in the quarterfinals of the National Golden Gloves Tournament in Indianapolis.
March 31, 1964: A former Greenville, Pa., woman and her child were drowned in a tidal wave in Kodiak that followed Alaska's earthquake. Dead are Mrs. Arlene Boyer Wallace, 26, and her son, Jackie, 7.
Ailing King Saud of Saudi Arabia is stripped of all power and his brother, Crown Prince Faisal, proclaimed regent and uncontested ruler of the oil rich desert kingdom.
Walter E. Watson, retired vice chairman of the Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube Co., dies at his home at 1216 Fifth Ave., Youngstown.
March 31, 1954: Youngstown Municipal Judge Frank R. Franko gives 68 traffic violators -- the largest number of the year -- his "humanitarian" treatment in Municipal Court, suspending both fines and court costs for 22 motorists and the court costs for 46 others. Only four paid fines and costs.
Youngstown is one of 295 cities across the nation with no traffic fatalities in January and February, and leads all cities of its population class in safety.
Widening of Market Street Extension from Southern Boulevard in Youngstown to the Ohio Turnpike will begin in May and is expected to be done by November.
March 31, 1929: Mahoning County automobilists are not opposed to an additional 1-cent per gallon gasoline tax if the revenue is needed for the Maintenance and construction of good roads, according to W.H. Loller, secretary of the Youngstown Automobile Club.
Youngstown vice squad officers Frank Bogner and John Bobonyk are attacked and slightly injured by alleged liquor law violators in a series of raids in which city, county and state police participated, and in which 10 persons were arrested.
Six years ago Demetrios "Jimmy" Stylianou was a street urchin and washed dishes in restaurants in Campbell; now he has received a master of arts degree at the University of Chicago and is slated to receive his doctor of divinity degree at the Chicago Theological Seminary.