Today is Friday, July 4, the 186th day of 2008. There are 180 days left in the year. This is

Today is Friday, July 4, the 186th day of 2008. There are 180 days left in the year. This is Independence Day. On this date in 1776, the Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence.

In 1802, the United States Military Academy officially opens at West Point, N.Y. In 1807, soldier-statesman Giuseppe Garibaldi, who played a key role in Italy’s unification during the 19th century, is born in Nice. In 1826, 50 years to the day after the Declaration of Independence was adopted, former presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both die. In 1831, the fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, dies in New York City. In 1862, English mathematician and clergyman Charles L. Dodgson (“Lewis Carroll”) begins devising the story of “Alice in Wonderland” for his young friend Alice Pleasance Liddell during a boating trip. In 1872, the 30th president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, is born in Plymouth, Vt. In 1917, during a ceremony in Paris honoring the French hero of the American Revolution, U.S. Lt. Col. Charles E. Stanton declares, “Lafayette, we are here!” In 1939, baseball’s “Iron Horse,” Lou Gehrig, says farewell to his fans at New York’s Yankee Stadium. In 1976, Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing almost all of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by pro-Palestinian hijackers.

July 4, 1983: Sheriff James A. Traficant Jr. leads raids shutting down the B.J. Alan Fireworks store on Columbiana-Canfield Road and another fireworks outlet on McCartney Road.

Computer Showcase on Youngstown Road SE in Niles is offering a line of robots for the home. Mark Meszaros, owner of the store, says the robots are a gimmick or an expensive toy at this stage of development, but says that will change in the future.

In response to a Supreme Court ruling, area colleges will begin making sure that young men who receive federal financial aid are registered for the draft.

July 4, 1968: The Youngstown area’s dream of becoming a major distribution center as a result of its midway location and superb transportation network gets two major lifts: a decision by General Motors to locate an automobile distribution center at its Lordstown plant and an announcement by Mid-West Abrasive Co. that it will relocate its Pittsburgh and Cleveland sales facilities to Youngstown.

The Federal Communications Commission orders multimillionaire Howard Hughes not to exercise any controlling interest in the American Broadcasting Companies without the FCC’s approval.

Three college-bound teenagers and a bartender are captured by Liberty Township police in a model home at 5471 Sampson Road. They removed $3,000 worth of new furniture to their North Side duplex and did $3,000 in damage to the home and its contents.

July 4, 1958: State Arson Investigator Michael Melillo says a fire that destroyed a horse barn and killed 11 horses at the Canfield Fairgrounds was caused by a roustabout with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus who was smoking in the barn. The loss is estimated at $25,000.

Jerry Berger, a 15-year-old student at Ursuline High School who wants to be a veterinarian, delivers five baby opossums after their mother is killed by a car in Ohio Avenue near Crandall Avenue. Two of the babies died, but three are thriving under the care of Sally Austin, a neighbor and night nurse at the Mahoning County Home.

July 4, 1933: The clay shop at the Homer Laughlin China Co. at Newell, W. Va., which has been idle for three years, reopens with about 150 workers on the job.

A mysterious dynamite explosion destroys the house of Guy DiCenso at 227 Forest St., Warren.

The Ohio Edison Co. shows an increase of 29 percent in sales for June, compared to the same month a year earlier.