Today is Friday, Dec. 22, the 356th day of 2006. There are nine days left in the year. On this date

Today is Friday, Dec. 22, the 356th day of 2006. There are nine days left in the year. On this date in 1944, during the World War II Battle of the Bulge, U.S. Brigadier General Anthony C. McAuliffe rejects the Germans' demand that the Americans surrender, writing "Nuts!" in his official reply.
In 1775, Esek Hopkins is appointed the commander in chief of the Continental Navy. In 1807, Congress passes the Embargo Act, barring all U.S. trade with foreign countries. In 1808, Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor and Symphony No. 6 in F Major have their world premieres in Vienna, Austria. In 1864, during the Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Sherman sends a message to President Lincoln: "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah." In 1894, French army officer Alfred Dreyfus is convicted of treason in a court-martial that triggers worldwide charges of anti-Semitism. (Dreyfus is eventually vindicated.) In 1941, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives in Washington for a wartime conference with President Franklin Roosevelt. In 1963, an official 30-day mourning period following the assassination of President Kennedy comes to an end. In 1984, New York City resident Bernhard Goetz shoots and wounds four youths on a Manhattan subway, claiming they were about to rob him. In 1989, Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu, the last of Eastern Europe's hard-line Communist rulers, is toppled from power in a popular uprising. In 1991, the body of Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins, an American hostage murdered by his captors, is found dumped along a highway in Lebanon.
December 22, 1981: Niles police reach a tentative one-year agreement with the city that calls for a 4 percent increase in pay and averts a threatened strike.
Four caroling youngsters are struck by a truck that slid on snow-covered Route 305 in Hartford Township. Lisa Roland, 14, and Scott Barzak, 8, are hospitalized in satisfactory condition. Diane Lloyd, 16, and Eric Phillips, 10, were released after treatment.
Mahoning and Trumbull counties rank second and fifth in Ohio during 1980 in delinquencies per person in several areas of taxation and assessments., the Ohio Public Expenditure Council says. Tax delinquencies in Mahoning County exceeded 115 million, a 28 percent jump over the previous year.
December 22, 1966: Isa Abbas, 32, a clerk at the Shehy Market in Youngstown is beaten by a lone gunman after he disarmed the bandit and broke his aluminum revolver in half. The gunman fled when Abbas managed to pull his own pistol after being knocked to the floor.
Warren Mayor Raymond Schryver closes four fire stations and assigns 16-hour shifts to police who are reporting for duty as large numbers of police officers and firemen continue to call off sick in an apparent job action.
Stephen G. Baytos sells the Voyager Motor Inn in downtown Youngstown and four other motels for 13 million to the owners of the Hotel Ohio.
December 22, 1956: H. Ross. Packard, who has headed the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce for 21 years, will step down effective March 31.
About 65,000 Youngstown district steelworkers are in line for a three-cent an hour pay increase in keeping with the cost-of-living contract.
Two Warren police officers are slugged by a youthful gunman who escaped after holding up the Veneris Restaurant on N. Pine Ave.
December 22, 1931: The U.S. Bureau of Education's report on its survey of Youngstown schools is presented to the board of education and recommends a complete reorganization of the school administration to correct "wastes and inefficiencies."
Prospects for reopening the City Trust & amp; Savings Bank brighten as it becomes known that 75 percent of the necessary funds have been signed over to form a holding company. Twenty large depositors representing more than 1 million have agreed to the plan.
Members of the University of Wisconsin football team vote two-to-one against the retention of Glenn Thistlewaite as head football coach. The results of the vote will be submitted to the university athletic council.