Today is Friday, Sept. 10, the 254th day of 2004. There are 112 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Friday, Sept. 10, the 254th day of 2004. There are 112 days left in the year. On this date in 1813, an American naval force commanded by Oliver H. Perry defeats the British in the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812.
In 1608, John Smith is elected president of the Jamestown colony council in Virginia. In 1846, Elias Howe receives a patent for his sewing machine. In 1919, New York City welcomes home Gen. John J. Pershing and 25,000 soldiers who'd served in the U.S. First Division during World War I. In 1939, Canada declares war on Nazi Germany. In 1945, Vidkun Quisling is sentenced to death in Norway for collaborating with the Nazis. In 1948, American-born Mildred Gillars, accused of being Nazi wartime radio broadcaster Axis Sally, is indicted in Washington, D.C., for treason. (She is later convicted, and serves 12 years in prison.) In 1955, "Gunsmoke" premieres on CBS. In 1963, 20 black students enter Alabama public schools following a standoff between federal authorities and Gov. George C. Wallace. In 1977, convicted murderer Hamida Djandoubi, a Tunisian immigrant, becomes the last person to date to be executed by the guillotine in France. In 1979, four Puerto Rican nationalists imprisoned for a 1954 attack on the U.S. House of Representatives and a 1950 attempt on the life of President Truman are granted clemency by President Carter. In 1994, President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and top national security advisers meet to discuss Haiti, but make no final decisions; Arantxa Sanchez Vicario defeats Steffi Graf to win the U.S. Open women's championship. In 1999, the U.S. government begins freeing 14 Puerto Rican nationalists granted clemency by President Clinton.
September 10, 1979: Ta Van Nguyen, his wife, Hoa, and their six children arrive in Columbiana from Vietnam. The family is sponsored by the Midway Mennonite Church.
Bishop James W. Malone celebrates Mass at St. Columba Cathedral to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sacred Heart Retreat House.
Lordstown issues a building permit for a $4 million expansion of the General Motors Assembly Division. The permit is for four buildings totaling 162,000 square feet that will be built at scattered sites.
September 10, 1964: Two Columbiana County men are in jail in Ellwood City, Pa., charged with holding up the Koppel Branch of the Union National Bank of Pittsburgh of $4,681.
Mississippi Democrats pick electors loyal to the Johnson-Humphrey ticket, but cheer when their governor, Paul Johnson, predicts that the state will vote for Republican Barry Goldwater.
American League club owners reaffirm the sale of 80 percent of the New York Yankees to the Columbia Broadcasting System.
September 10, 1954: Work is beginning on two multimillion dollar improvement projects at Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube Co.'s Campbell Works, the company announces, indicating its faith in Youngstown as a steel-producing center.
The Cleveland Indians management says it can't permit televising the Indians-Yankees double-header, even though the game has been sold out and Cleveland Mayor Anthony J. Celebrezze personally asked the team's general manager to facilitate the broadcast.
An 8-month-old girl visiting her grandparents in Youngstown becomes the city's 34th polio patient of the year. St. Elizabeth Hospital has had 25 cases and South Side Hospital, nine.
September 10, 1929: Plans for a new mechanical tubing and conduit department to be established at the Trumbull plant of Republic Iron & amp; Steel Co. of Warren have been prepared by engineers of the company, E.T. McCleary, company president, announces.
On the eve of his 75th birthday, James A. Campbell, president of Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube Co., recalls his rise from a humble country school master to leadership of one of the greatest steel concerns in the country and the largest domestic corporation in Ohio.
John Ringling, who started as a singing clown, is the supreme ringmaster of the circus world after his Ringling Brothers circus buys five of its foremost competitors from the American Circus Corp.