Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Today is Wednesday, Dec. 24, the 359th day of 2008. There are seven days left in the year. This is Christmas Eve. On this date in 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts, orbiting the moon, read passages from the Old Testament Book of Genesis during a Christmas Eve telecast that features live images of Earth.
In 1524, Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama — who had discovered a sea route around Africa to India — dies in Cochin, India. In 1814, the War of 1812 officially ends as the United States and Britain sign the Treaty of Ghent in Belgium. In 1851, fire devastates the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., destroying about 35,000 volumes. In 1865, several veterans of the Confederate Army form a private social club in Pulaski, Tenn., called the Ku Klux Klan. In 1871, Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Aida” has its world premiere in Cairo, Egypt. In 1908, citing morality concerns, New York Mayor George B. McClellan Jr. temporarily closes the city’s movie theaters. (The action gives rise to creation of a motion picture censorship board.)
December 24, 1983: Cold Rocky Mountain air blasts the Mahoning Valley, dropping temperatures to the lowest point since 1951. The official low was -9. A year earlier, Christmas Eve temperatures reached 60.
Mayor-elect Patrick J. Ungaro was third in campaign spending among five candidates, spending $6,853, compared to the top spender, Thomas D’Amico, who spent $25,749.
Area charities such as Fish Samaritan House, St. Vincent De Paul Society and Salvation Army say they are having a difficult time meeting all the requests for help from struggling families this Christmas.
December 24, 1968: Theodore Stevens, Republican speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives, is named by Republican Gov. Walter Hinkle to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the death of Democrat Sen. E.L. Bartlett.
The bodies of seven of eight Air Force Reserve officers from the 910th Tactical Airlift Group at the Youngstown Municipal Airport who were killed in a Dec. 14 crash in Puerto Rico arrive under military escort at the Youngstown B&O Railroad Station. Killed in the crash were Maj. John Herman Balzer, Capt. Frank E. Platenak, Capt. Ivan W. Bechtel, Lt. Col. Phillip Mahoney, S.Sgt. Herschel W. Clark, S.Sgt. Billie G. Kropp, Sgt. Harry L. Murray Jr. and Sgt. Martin A. Breckner.
Cyclops Corp. files a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission covering securities to be issued in the proposed acquisition of Sharon Steel Corp.
December 24, 1958: City fire inspectors and building inspectors differ on the cause of a fire that killed 3-month-old Patricia Ann Smith at 1518 Oak Lane in Thorn Hill Village. Fire Chief John Lynch says an overheated furnace ignited a particle board wall. A building inspector says a burst of flames from the furnace ignited nearby debris.
Robert D. Huxley, president of Youngstown Transit Co. since 1953, is elected chairman of the board and M.M. Malmer has been named president and general manager.
Atty. Frank Battisti, judge-elect of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, names George Meshel, 36, as his court bailiff.
The board chairman of the Lawson Milk Co. of Akron announces that the firm has been sold to Consolidated Foods Corp. of Chicago. The purchase price is estimated at $10 million.
December 24, 1933: Merchants up and down Federal Street report that the Christmas shopping season of 1934 was the best one in the city in several years.
A Christmas eve survey of Youngstown drug stores shows the sale of more than 1,500 pints of legal whisky, wine and gin as Ohio puts prohibition behind it. Eighteen of 40 Youngstown drug stores reported that they are selling liquor and several others will in the future.