Today is Thursday, Oct. 7, the 281st day of 2004. There are 85 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Thursday, Oct. 7, the 281st day of 2004. There are 85 days left in the year. On this date in 1765, the Stamp Act Congress convenes in New York to draw up colonial grievances against England.
In 1777, the second Battle of Saratoga begins during the American Revolution. (British forces under Gen. John Burgoyne surrenders 10 days later.) In 1849, author Edgar Allan Poe dies in Baltimore at age 40. In 1940, Artie Shaw and his Orchestra record Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust" for RCA Victor. In 1949, the Republic of East Germany is formed. In 1950, the U.N. General Assembly approves an advance by U.N. forces north of the 38th Parallel in the Korean Conflict. In 1954, Marian Anderson becomes the first black singer hired by the Metropolitan Opera Co. in New York. In 1960, Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy and Republican opponent Richard M. Nixon hold the second of their broadcast debates. In 1985, Palestinian gunmen hijack the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean with more than 400 people aboard. In 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, is beaten and left tied to a wooden fencepost outside of Laramie, Wyo.; he dies five days later.
October 7, 1979: Honda, the Japanese auto and motorcycle maker, still has plans in the works for both a multi-million dollar U.S. assembly plant and a design center, and Ohio could have the inside track for one or both.
Msgr. Donald J. Reagan, musician, composer and pastor of Blessed Sacrament Church in Warren, is releasing his second album of liturgical music. The title song, "You Are My Friends" was written for the ordination of his nephew, the Rev. Patrick Manning.
Youngstown Area United Appeal opens its $2.2 million campaign with two free concerts at the Stambaugh Auditorium by Boardman songstress Maureen McGovern.
October 7, 1964: Alliance police arrest six men and a woman and confiscate 100,000 World Series pool tickets that were to be sold at $1 each.
Youngstown gets a bitter taste of what is to come this winter with the first killing frost of the year.
Employees of Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube Co. match the record $135,000 contribution of the company itself to the United Appeal campaign. The drive reaches $573,000 of its $1.6 million goal.
October 7, 1954: Shirley Pitts, a vivacious Youngstown College brunette, is chosen queen of the 14th annual homecoming at the college.
Youngstown Mayor Frank X. Kryzan is apparently resigned to the fact that the Air Force will establish a reserve air base at the Youngstown Municipal Airport and will drop his opposition. But he says he is disgusted with the attitude of top-ranking Air Force officials and the city airport will strictly enforce the terms of its contract with the Air Force.
The Rev. Dr. Eugene C. Beach, pastor of First Christian Church, is elected chairman of the Citizens Committee for Slum Clearance and Public Housing during an organizational meeting at the YWCA.
October 7, 1929: The Rev. J.H. Lloyd, D.D., pastor of Calvary Baptist church for 15 years, tenders his resignation to accept the pastorate of the Memorial Baptist church of Johnstown, Pa., one of the largest Baptist churches in the state.
A new law that makes it the duty of the trial judge to examine and qualify jurors in criminal cases is used for the first time in Mahoning County as Judge David G. Jenkins questions jurors in the trial of a man charged with criminal assault of a 7-year-old girl. Judge Jenkins notes afterward that in all his time on the bench, only one juror has admitted that he was prejudiced.