Some significant times in the life of Atty. Don L. Hanni Jr.

July 17, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

1950: Taught at Springfield Local High School and served as principal there in 1951.

1953: Passed the Ohio State Bar Examination.

1959: Won election as a Youngstown Municipal Court judge.

1962: Lost his bid to become a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge.

1963: Sought Democratic Party backing to become Mahoning County prosecutor.

1964: Mahoning County commissioners chose Hanni as a trustee of the newly created Mahoning County Community College.

1965: Lost his municipal court re-election bid to Joseph Donofrio.

1969: Filed a petition to run for mayor of Youngstown. The incumbent mayor, Anthony B. Flask, was renominated. Also that year, an arsonist burned Hanni’s East Side home. The damage was $12,000.

1973: Someone set off a bomb in Hanni’s front yard. There were no injuries or damage. In December that year, he announced his candidacy for Ohio lieutenant governor.

1978: Hanni won the county Democratic Party chairman seat.

1980: Chosen for a four-year term on the county board of elections and unanimously renominated by local Democrats to that board in 1984.

1980: Defended Steven Masters of Boardman, who was accused of killing his 19-year-old wife, Jodi. Masters found guilty in April. At that time, it was the longest criminal trial in county history.

1980: Re-elected as Democratic Party chairman.

1980: The FBI investigated him because a sailboat that had been reported stolen from a Florida marina five years before was recovered on his Pulaski Township farm.

1982: The federal government decided not to prosecute Hanni over the sailboat. Also that year, he was re-elected to a two-year term as chairman of the board of elections.

1983: Created the Mahoning County Democratic Party Riverboat Captain’s Club to raise funds for Democratic candidates.

1984: Hanni defeated Sheriff James A. Traficant Jr. for county Democratic Party chairmanship.

1985: Hanni charged with drunken driving after his car smashed through the front window of the post office in downtown Youngstown. A visiting municipal judge dismissed the charge because of lack of evidence.

1986: Hanni won his fifth term as county Democratic Party chairman.

1987: The longtime feud between Hanni and Traficant ended, when Traficant named Hanni to head Traficant’s presidential campaign efforts in Ohio.

1988: Hanni beat Russell Saadey to retain county party leadership.

1994: Atty. Michael Morley ousted Hanni as party chairman, ending Hanni’s 16-year run. Morley, the candidate of the “Democrats for Change” movement, said it was time to change what he called the “archaic political environment” that had hurt the community.

2001: Finished third in a field of five as a write-in candidate for Youngstown Board of Education.

2005: Named a member of the Western Reserve Port Authority, which operates Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.

2007: Suffered a stroke.

July 15, 2008: Dies at his home.

Source: Vindicator files