Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Today is Tuesday, July 20, the 202nd day of 2004. There are 164 days left in the year. On this date in 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the moon as they step out of their lunar module.
In 1861, the Congress of the Confederate States begins holding sessions in Richmond, Va. In 1871, British Columbia enters Confederation as a Canadian province. In 1881, Sioux Indian leader Sitting Bull, a fugitive since the Battle of the Little Big Horn, surrenders to federal troops. In 1942, the first detachment of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps -- later known as WACs -- begins basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. In 1944, an attempt by a group of German officials to assassinate Adolf Hitler with a bomb fails as the explosion at Hitler's Rastenburg headquarters only wounds the Nazi leader. In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt is nominated for an unprecedented fourth term of office at the Democratic convention in Chicago. In 1977, a flash flood hits Johnstown, Pa., killing 80 people and causing $350 million worth of damage. In 1993, White House deputy counsel Vincent Foster Jr. is found shot to death in a park near Washington, D.C., a suicide.
July 20, 1979: The chief engineer for the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District claims that it is inevitable, unless something is done to clean up the Deerfield hazardous waste dump, that seepage will one day contaminate Berlin Reservoir, the backup water supply for the MVSD.
The weekend gasoline supply in the Youngstown area appears adequate, but many stations are still reducing their hours of operation to avoid running dry.
July 20, 1964: Youngstown issues a building permit for $536,500 to Steve C. Baytos & amp; Associates for construction of the Legal Arts Building on the site of the old Sears, Roebuck & amp; Co. store at Boardman and Market streets.
For the third consecutive day the mercury reaches the 90-degree mark in Downtown Youngstown and swimming pools and recreation areas are packed with area residents seeking respite from the heat.
Ten Austintown residents have been cited into county court by Dog Warden Daniel E. Pecchio on charges of failing to buy 1964 dog licenses.
July 20, 1954: To the applause of 1,000 listeners, Ohio Gov. Frank J. Lausche dedicates the $2.5 million B & amp;O Railroad bridge spanning Robbins Avenue in Niles, declaring it a symbol "of the perpetual life of our country."
Five Youngstown public schools under construction will be ready for pupils in September, Superintendent of Schools Paul C. Bunn tells the board of education. A strike by hod carriers and laborers has caused some delay at East, Wilson, Chaney, Kirkmere and Taft, Bunn says.
City opposition to a proposed Air Force reserve training center at Youngstown Municipal Airport might cause a pullout of all Air Force operations in Youngstown, a spokesman for the service says. The jet fighter squadron at the airport employs 1,000 officers, airmen and civilian employees.
July 20, 1929: Two Youngstown patrolmen dismissed on charges of stealing a gallon of liquor from the department property room are ordered reinstated by Mayor Joseph Heffernan on the grounds that liquor has disappeared from the department in the past and no disciplinary action was taken. Heffernan said that firing the men would make them scapegoats. He ordered 30-day suspensions for both officers.
Ohio's new speed limit law goes into effect, allowing motor vehicles to travel at 20 mph in congested districts, 35 in residential areas and 45 on county highways.
Youngstown's newest motion picture theater opens, the Paramount on West Federal Street. A crowd of 1,500 people who had blocked the sidewalk in front of the theater for an hour, pushed through the doors when they were opened for the first show.