Today is Tuesday, Dec. 27, the 361st day of 2005. There are four days left in the year. On this date
Today is Tuesday, Dec. 27, the 361st day of 2005. There are four days left in the year. On this date in 1979, Soviet forces seize control of Afghanistan. President Hafizullah Amin, who was overthrown and executed, is replaced by Babrak Karmal.
In 1822, scientist Louis Pasteur is born in Dole, France. In 1831, naturalist Charles Darwin sets out on a voyage to the Pacific aboard the HMS Beagle. (Darwin's discoveries during the trip help to form the basis of his theories on evolution.) In 1904, James Barrie's play "Peter Pan: The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up" opens at the Duke of York's Theater in London. In 1945, 28 nations sign an agreement creating the World Bank. In 1968, Apollo 8 and its three astronauts make a safe, nighttime splashdown in the Pacific. In 1985, Palestinian guerrillas open fire inside the Rome and Vienna airports; a total of 20 people are killed, including five of the attackers, who are slain by police and security personnel. In 1985, American naturalist Dian Fossey, who had studied gorillas in the wild, is found hacked to death at a research station in Rwanda.
December 27, 1980: Taxable valuation of industrial real property in Youngstown for 1979 on which property taxes are levied drops by 2 percent compared to a decade earlier, a report by the Ohio Public Expenditure Council shows.
The judicial branch of city government and the Civil Service Commission warn Youngstown City Council that they will challenge any attempt to reduce their budgets.
A state audit of Youngstown's government recommends 30 operational changes, including adoption of a perpetual inventory system and stricter supervision of vacation time, sick time and overtime.
December 27, 1965: At least 707 people die on America's highways, a record for a three-day Christmas weekend. In the Youngstown district there were eight traffic fatalities.
Carl W. Flitcraft Jr., a 29-year-old math teacher, is sworn in as mayor of New Middletown, the village's 10th mayor.
The Secret Service springs into action when a little girl's firecracker explodes nearby just as an 18-year-old hunter appears carrying a loaded rifle within 15 feet of President Johnson, who was making a surprise visit to his boyhood home in John son city, Texas. Setting off firecrackers is a Christmas season tradition in Texas. The youth was carrying his loaded rifle to his pick-up truck to leave on a hunting trip. After brief questioning, and after the rifle was unloaded, the hunter was sent on his way.
December 27, 1955: Fists fly as 250 Westinghouse Electric Corp. employees and 75 IUE pickets clash in front of the Sharon plant's main gate.
Youngstowners set a new record in Christmas mailing with more than nine million pieces of first class letters, greeting cards and other types.
Two Columbiana prisoners see their way to freedom Christmas Eve from the Star County jail in Canton and remain at large.
December 27, 1930: Between 2,000 and 3,000 additional Youngstown district rolling mill workers are going back to work with many steel mills resuming operation a week earlier than had been expected.
A 37-year-old father of three is in city jail after shooting a West Ave. man who came to the family's W. Rayen Ave. home to reclaim food that had been taken from his house. When police arrived one of the children, a crippled girl, was sitting in a high chair eating a crust of bread and drinking water. The owner of the food was released after treatment.