Today is Monday, Dec. 22, the 357th day of 2008. There are nine days left in the year. On this date

Today is Monday, Dec. 22, the 357th day of 2008. There are nine days left in the year. On this date in 1858, opera composer Giacomo Puccini is born in Lucca, Italy.

In 1864, during the Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Sherman writes a message to President Abraham Lincoln which said in part: “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 1944, during the World War II Battle of the Bulge, U.S. Brigadier General Anthony C. McAuliffe rejects a German demand for surrender, writing “Nuts!” in his official reply. In 1968, Julie Nixon marries David Eisenhower in a private ceremony in New York. In 1977, three dozen people are killed when a 250-foot-high grain elevator at the Continental Grain Company plant in Westwego, La., explodes. 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 2001, Richard C. Reid, a passenger on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami, tries to ignite explosives in his shoes, but is subdued by flight attendants and other passengers. (Reid is serving a life sentence.)

December 22, 1983: The Village of Lordstown files suit in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court seeking to force General Motors to withhold village income tax from Supplemental Unemployment Benefits made to laid off workers.

Campbell City Council converts two police sergeant ranks to patrolmen’s positions and is considering abolishing a fire captain’s rank and a laborer’s job in the park department in a continuing effort to cut the city’s operational costs.

December 22, 1968: The impending takeover of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., the district’s largest locally headquartered company, emphasizes the need for a regional approach to the area’s problems, says Carl Dennison, a partner in the local brokerage firm of Butler, Wick & Co. He says the area must be ready to react to the challenges and opportunities presented by the development of huge industrial conglomerates.

Roger M. Blough, chairman of U.S. Steel Corp. warns that the U.S. trade balance is shrinking rapidly, from $7 billion in 1964 to almost zero in 1968, which presents an eventual danger to the U.S. economy. He notes that the cost of an hour’s labor in Japan is only a fourth of the cost in the United States, making it difficult for U.S. manufacturers to compete.

December 22, 1958: For the second time in four days, Youngstown Municipal Judge Frank R. Franko shows leniency to defendants involved in assaults on Youngstown police officers. He suspends the $25 fines against two men accused of cutting an off-duty policeman with a knife. Earlier he dropped a $50 fine against a man charged with striking a policeman who attempted to help him.

One of Canfield’s oldest and most widely known citizens, John Allen Flick, an expert cabinet maker classed an artisan by district antique dealers, dies in his sleep shortly after marking his 99th birthday.

December 22, 1933: Mahoning County would be allowed licenses for 115 restaurants that could sell liquor by the glass under the state liquor control bill as it passed the state Senate.

Mahoning County Relief Director R.A. Noble issues strict orders to discharge CWA workers who are lazy or are drunks. He also says reports of men quitting private employment jobs to take CWA jobs will be investigated.

Virtually all Youngstown area drug stores are expected to apply for temporary liquor licenses under the state’s proposed liquor law.