Today is Sunday, Dec. 5, the 340th day of 2004. There are 26 days left in the year. On this date in 1933, national prohibition comes to an end as Utah becomes the 36th state to ratify the 21st

Today is Sunday, Dec. 5, the 340th day of 2004. There are 26 days left in the year. On this date in 1933, national prohibition comes to an end as Utah becomes the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, repealing the 18th Amendment.
In 1776, the first scholastic fraternity in America, Phi Beta Kappa, is organized at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. In 1831, former President John Quincy Adams takes his seat as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1848, President James Knox Polk triggers the Gold Rush of '49 by confirming that gold has been discovered in California. In 1932, German physicist Albert Einstein is granted a visa, making it possible for him to travel to the United States. In 1991, Richard Speck, who'd murdered eight student nurses in Chicago in 1966, dies in prison a day short of his 50th birthday.
December 5, 1979: The Warren Board of Education votes 4-1 to approve a $1 million federal grant application for three school desegregation programs. Included are two alternative elementary schools, an in-school suspension program and remedial reading programs.
Despite rebates and other incentives, sales by the nation's five major automakers dropped 21.3 percent in November from a year earlier. New deliveries totaled just 606,204 vehicles.
Facing the prospect of taking office in January with no community development funds, Mayor-elect George Vukovich appeals to federal officials for time to establish a housing strategy for Youngstown that would allow him to rescue a $5.8 million grant.
December 5, 1964: W. Eric Rowley, Mahoning County game protector, reports only 16 deer taken on two foggy opening days of deer season, but is pleased with the county's perfect safety record. During the same period a year earlier, 36 deer were taken.
Cardinal Mooney High School repeats as champions in the second annual Mill Creek Kiwanis individual events speech tournament held at Chaney High School.
John B. Morgan, chairman of the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce business development commission, reports a continued upswing in the area's economy. Twelve key business indicators are up over a year earlier, including electric power sales, which were 17 percent higher in October than the same month in 1963.
December 5, 1954: The William Rayen School of Engineering at Youngstown College is notified of the accreditation of its complete day curriculums in electrical and mechanical engineering by the Engineers' Council for Professional Development.
Railroad passenger trains, once Youngstown's main link with the outside world, are fading out of the picture as more travelers turn to automobiles, buses and airlines to get from place to place. Youngstown Municipal Airport, which opened 13 years ago, is handling between 8,000 and 9,000 passengers a month, not including those who use executive aircraft at the airport.
Nearly 3,000 Youngstown residents fill Stambaugh Auditorium for the 24th annual Alias Santa Claus Club Show sponsored by Vindicator Columnist Esther Hamilton. They empty their pockets of a record $24,893 that will go to Youngstown's neediest.
December 5, 1929: The Sharon Steel Hoop Co. announces that it has concluded negotiations with Krupp Nirosta Co., holders of the Krupp patents of highly alloyed and rust-resistant steels, for production and distribution of those patented specialty steels.
The purchase in 1930 of 34 new buses by the Youngstown Municipal Railway Co. is recommended by Traction Commissioner Harry Engle.
The wreckage of a missing air mail plane en route from New York to Cleveland and the body of pilot Thomas P. Nelson are found three miles east of Chagrin Falls by a hunter. Nelson had been missing for three days. An intensive ground and air search had been launched for Nelson, and was joined by an old friend of the pilot, Col. Charles Lindbergh, who was flying over an area northwest of Youngstown when the discovery was made.
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