Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Today is Wednesday, July 21, the 203rd day of 2004. There are 163 days left in the year. On this date in 1925, what's called the "Monkey Trial" ends in Dayton, Tenn., with John T. Scopes convicted of violating state law for teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution. (The conviction is later overturned.)
In 1831, Belgium becomes independent as Leopold I is proclaimed King of the Belgians. In 1861, the first Battle of Bull Run is fought at Manassas, Va., resulting in a Confederate victory. In 1899, author Ernest Hemingway is born in Oak Park, Ill.; poet Hart Crane is born in Garrettsville, Ohio. In 1944, American forces land on Guam during World War II. In 1954, the Geneva Accords divide Vietnam into northern and southern entities. In 1961, Captain Virgil "Gus" Grissom becomes the second American to rocket into a sub-orbital pattern around the Earth, flying aboard the "Liberty Bell Seven." In 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin blast off from the moon aboard the lunar module. In 1980, draft registration begins in the United States for 19- and 20-year-old men. In 2002, telecommunications giant WorldCom Inc. files for bankruptcy protection, about a month after disclosing it had inflated profits by nearly $4 billion through deceptive accounting.
July 21, 1979: Commuter Aircraft Corp. files a formal application for Federal Aviation Administration certification of its planned commuter-sized plane, meeting a critical deadline for receiving federal loan guarantees to build an aircraft plant near Youngstown.
Mahoning County Democrats turn a deaf ear to efforts to enlist them in a movement to draft U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts for the Democratic presidential nomination. Local Democrats say they will stay with President Carter as long as he intends to seek a second term.
Directors of Farmers Savings & amp; Loan Co. of Canfield accept in principle the offer of Broadview Finance Corp. of Cleveland for an undisclosed amount of cash and notes to become an affiliate of Broadview.
July 21, 1964: Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube Co. reports earnings of $13.4 million or $1.28 a share on sales of $192 million in the booming second quarter, reflecting an excellent upturn for the year.
Mayor Anthony B. Flask unveils new proposals for Youngstown's central business district which include a civic center between Chestnut Street and Fifth Avenue. The original downtown plan placed the center east of Walnut Street. Flask says the plans are flexible.
A canvas bag containing $14,000 is taken from the floor of an automobile parked in downtown East Liverpool. The money was being transferred from the First National Bank in East Liverpool to the Central Federal Savings & amp; Loan Association of Wellsville.
July 21, 1954: One of South Avenue's landmarks, the 50-year-old car barns of the Youngstown & amp; Southern Railway Co. near South Side Park, is seriously damaged by a spectacular two-alarm fire.
Fred H. Becker of 419 Catalina Ave., president of the Ohio Leather Co., nationally known in his field, dies in North Side Hospital at the age of 68.
A.E. Perlman, new president of the New York Central Railroad, stops in Youngstown as part of learning the complex job facing him -- running the nation's second largest railroad.
July 21, 1929: Three men killed in a fiery airplane crash near Toledo have been identified through personal effects as Youngstown pilot Charles "Deac" Jones and prominent Youngstown men J.B. Detchon, 59, and Carl Detchon, 37, father and son.
Automobile insurance companies operating in the Youngstown district adopt a system to reward safe drivers, providing 10 percent premium discounts for drivers who have avoided accidents for two years.
Ohio's new game law goes into effect placing European starlings on the game bird list, subject to be killed at all times as a measure to rid the state of the troublesome birds.