Today is Wednesday, March 23, the 82nd day of 2005. There are 283 days left in the year. On this



Today is Wednesday, March 23, the 82nd day of 2005. There are 283 days left in the year. On this date in 1775, Patrick Henry makes his famous call for American independence from Britain, telling the Virginia Provincial Convention, "Give me liberty, or give me death!"
In 1806, explorers Lewis and Clark, having reached the Pacific coast, begin their journey back east. In 1919, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement in Milan, Italy. In 1933, the German Reichstag adopts the Enabling Act, which effectively grants Adolf Hitler dictatorial legislative powers. In 1942, during World War II, the U.S. government begins evacuating Japanese-Americans from their West Coast homes to detention centers. In 1956, Pakistan becomes an independent republic within the British Commonwealth. In 1965, America's first two-person space flight begins as Gemini 3 blasts off from Cape Kennedy with astronauts Virgil I. Grissom and John W. Young aboard. In 1983, President Reagan first proposes developing technology to intercept enemy missiles -- a proposal that comes to be known as the Strategic Defense Initiative, as well as "Star Wars."
March 23, 1980: Youngstown's income tax revenue is lagging behind the previous year by an unprecedented $770,000, a bad omen for the city's financial future.
A new company, Ohio Roll Fab. Inc., builds a 12,500 square foot plant at 449 S. Meridian Road and hopes to employ 50 persons and use about 3,000 tons of area-produced steel a year in fabricating building products.
The dream that kept 3,500 Mahoning Valley steel workers on the edge of their seats for five days appears to be over with Judge Thomas D. Lambros' ruling that U.S. Steel Corp. has the right to shut down two local mills. But some of the workers maintain a hope that they will be able to buy and operate the McDonald Mills and Ohio Works.
March 23, 1965: Dr. Marvin Fox, 55, a former Youngstown man who gained national stature as a nuclear scientist, dies of a heart attack in Los Angeles, where he was doing research for Hughes Aircraft Co.
The Lowellville High School Band in Class C-2 and the West Branch High School Concert Band in Class A-2 win superior ratings in the northeast Ohio band and chorus contest in Warren.
March 23, 1955: Three children are burned to death in a fire that destroyed their trailer home near Phalanx Station in western Trumbull County. Dead are Teresa Margaret Osborn, 4 months; Keith Leroy Osborn, 18 months, and Diane Louise Osborn, 21/2 years.
The Youngstown Civil Liberties Union criticizes the Youngstown YMCA for not admitting Negroes as members at the Central Y. Nathaniel C. Lee, president of the Youngstown Chapter, NAACP, tells the group that he tried to get a membership at the Central Y, but was told he could only join the W. Federal Street Y because he is a Negro.
Gale force winds, snow and subfreezing temperatures follow the tornadoes that ripped through Poland, adding to the storm damage there and throughout the Youngstown area. Most of the roof of the Realty Building in downtown Youngstown was ripped off and a barn in Kinsman was blown down, killing three cows.
March 23, 1930: An Associated Press story describes Youngstown as the scene of a battle of financial giants like none before. "Victory for one side will mean a billion-dollar consolidation of Bethlehem Steel Corp. and the Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube Co.; for the other it will retain Youngstown's largest industry in Youngstown and Cleveland and perhaps open the way for a Midwestern bid for supremacy in the steel industry."
Austintown Township opposes Youngstown's annexation of Wickliffe, saying it would work a severe financial hardship on the board of trustees and the board of education of Austintown.
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