Today in History

Today is Sunday, Jan. 22, the 22nd day of 2006. There are 343 days left in the year. On this date in 1917, President Wilson pleads for an end to war in Europe, calling for "peace without victory." (By April, however, America also is at war.)
In 1901, Britain's Queen Victoria dies at age 82. In 1905, thousands of demonstrating Russian workers are fired on by Imperial army troops in St. Petersburg on what becomes known as "Red Sunday" or "Bloody Sunday." In 1922, Pope Benedict XV dies; he is succeeded by Pius IX. In 1938, Thornton Wilder's play "Our Town" is performed publicly for the first time, in Princeton, N.J. In 1944, during World War II, Allied forces begin landing at Anzio, Italy. In 1957, suspected "Mad Bomber" George P. Metesky is arrested in Waterbury, Conn. (He is later found mentally ill and committed to a mental hospital until 1973.) In 1973, the Supreme Court hands down its "Roe v. Wade" decision, which legalizes abortion using a trimester approach. In 1973, former President Johnson dies at age 64. In 1995, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy dies at the Kennedy compound at Hyannis Port, Mass., at age 104. In 1998, Theodore Kaczynski pleads guilty in Sacramento, Calif., to being the Unabomber in return for a sentence of life in prison without parole.
January 22, 1981: Youngstown Mayor George Vukovich says he will send the general fund budget approved by City Council back to council without his signature, which means it will take effect in 10 days. Vukovich had submitted budget suggestions to council, which were ignored.
Gary Lee, an American hostage held by Iranians, tells his wife Pat during a telephone call that he was in solitary confinement for much of his captivity and that he believed at least twice that he was going to be killed. The Lees lived in Youngstown before Gary graduated from Youngstown Sate University and took a State Department job.
Pennsylvania State Treasurer R. Budd Dwyer resigns his 50th District state Senate seat, which includes Mercer and Crawford counties.
Two top country music acts are booked for the 1981 Trumbull County Fair: Louise Mandrell and the group, Alabama. There will also be female mud wrestling.
January 22, 1966: The G.M. McKelvey Co. begins a campaign opposing the planned construction of center islands in Commerce Street and elimination of the crosswalk in Commerce at the McKelvey Parkade.
Seven area jewelers and Carl Wolters of the Downtown Board of Trade meet with Youngstown Police Chief John Terlesky to discuss nighttime patrolling of the downtown stores to stop a wave of window-smashing thefts. There have been thefts at King's, Jerry Lee's and Rogers jewelry stores.
Theodore R. Saker, former Warren attorney who served as assistant attorney general under Mark McElroy, tells a Democratic candidate screening committee in Columbus that he is available to run for governor on the Democratic ticket.
January 22, 1956: The Koppers Co. of Pittsburgh is considering acquisition of a 265-acre tract known as the Brenneman farm near the Waterford Park Race track near East Liverpool for an Ohio riverfront chemical plant.
The busy Youngstown district remains one of the nation's top steel-making centers, boosting its ingot capacity by 381,000 tons in 1955 under the pressures of a booming economy. Another substantial increase is expected in 1956.
Massillon police arrest a 37-year-old steelworker who shot and killed his 35-year-old wife and a prominent 76-year-old physician outside the steelworker's apartment. The steelworker was captured about two hours after the shooting, hiding in a telephone booth.
January 22, 1931: At least 25 parcels of land must be bought before the city and Erie Railroad can complete the elimination of grade crosses in the downtown area.
Judge George H. Gessner sentences a New Middletown man to a year in the Ohio Penitentiary on a charge of neglect to provide for three children, the two youngest being twins several months old. The man admitted he was a panhandler in Niles and pleaded for mercy, but Gessner said he was entitled to none.
A Pittsburgh man held in Lisbon since November on charges of stealing 33 chickens from the William Fessler farm is declared to be insane.
The estate of the late Mary Perkins Lawton of Warren has a gross value of $1.8 million and yields an inheritance tax of $117,839 to be divided equally between the state and the city of Warren.
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