Today is Monday, Dec. 25, the 359th day of 2006. There are six days left in the year. This is Christmas Day. On this date in 1818, "Silent Night," written by Franz Gruber and Father Joseph Mohr, is

Today is Monday, Dec. 25, the 359th day of 2006. There are six days left in the year. This is Christmas Day. On this date in 1818, "Silent Night," written by Franz Gruber and Father Joseph Mohr, is performed for the first time, at the Church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria.
In 1066, William the Conqueror is crowned king of England. In 1776, Gen. George Washington and his troops cross the Delaware River for a surprise attack against Hessian forces at Trenton, N.J. In 1926, Hirohito becomes emperor of Japan, succeeding his father, Emperor Yoshihito. (Hirohito is formally enthroned almost two years later.) In 1931, New York's Metropolitan Opera broadcasts an entire opera over radio for the first time: "Hansel and Gretel" by Engelbert Humperdinck. In 1941, during World War II, Japan announces the surrender of the British-Canadian garrison at Hong Kong. In 1946, comedian W.C. Fields dies in Pasadena, Calif., at age 66. In 1977, comedian Sir Charles Chaplin dies in Switzerland at age 88. In 1989, ousted Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, are executed following a popular uprising. In 1991, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev goes on TV to announce his resignation as the eighth and final leader of a communist superpower that had already gone out of existence.
December 25, 1981: Mahoning County Sheriff James A. Traficant Jr. and Youngstown Police Chief Stanley E. Peterson say the Mahoning County grand jury should have familiarized itself more with the reality of jail operations before criticizing the county and city jails.
The entire rank of lieutenant and three captaincies in the Youngstown Police Department would be abolished under two ordinances drafted by councilmen who want "less brass and more men on the streets."
The Rev. James D. Robb, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Sharon, receives a special Christmas gift from his congregation: a 10-day tour of the Holy Land.
December 25, 1966: Fifteen children apparently overcome by gas fumes while rehearsing a Christmas tableaux in the basement of Apostolic Church of God on Andrews Avenue are treated at North Side and South Side hospitals.
A major snowstorm assures much of the East of a White Christmas, but also leaves many travelers stranded by heavy snows and record-breaking cold.
Fourteen Trumbull County departments will begin the new year in new quarters, a gleaming five-story white pre-cast concrete administration building that was erected and equipped at a cost of nearly 2 million.
December 25, 1956: A former Youngstown woman, Mrs. Jennie Magill of Hammond, Ind., and her daughter, Laurie, are featured on the cover of Life Magazine's special issue on "The American Women." Mrs. Magill is the wife of a 5,500-a-year junior executive at Republic Steel Corp. and she runs the bridal service in a Hammond department store.
Two Mahoning County students, one from Hillman Junior High School and one from McKinley High School in Beloit, are grateful for the Christmas Seal X-ray bus that discovered they had tuberculosis. One has completed treatment at the Mahoning Tuberculosis Sanatorium and the other is just beginning treatment.
Leo F. McCarthy of 7362 Salinas Trail, is promoted to colonel in the Ohio Defense Corps and commander of the 3rd Area. He succeeds Brig. Gen. Donald J. Lynn.
December 25, 1931: Anthony Magnello, 60, a S. Pine Ave. merchant in Warren, is in riverside Hospital with a bullet wound suffered when he resisted two highwaymen who followed him home and attempted to rob him of the store's Christmas receipts.
A large cast presents a Christmas play at Sacred Heart Polish National Church, 522 Cameron Ave., Youngstown.
E.C. Fuhr is elected president of the German American Central Society in Youngstown.
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