Today is Sunday, July 20, the 202nd day of 2008. There are 164 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Sunday, July 20, the 202nd day of 2008. There are 164 days left in the year. On this date in 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin become the first men to walk on the moon as they step out of their lunar module.

In 1810, Colombia declares independence from Spain. In 1861, the Congress of the Confederate States begins holding sessions in Richmond, Va. In 1917, the draft lottery in World War I goes into operation. In 1944, an attempt by a group of German officials to assassinate Adolf Hitler with a bomb fails as the explosion at Hitler’s Rastenburg headquarters only wounds the Nazi leader. In 1944, President Roosevelt is nominated for an unprecedented fourth term of office at the Democratic convention in Chicago. In 1977, a flash flood hits Johnstown, Pa., killing more than 80 people and causing $350 million in damage. In 1988, Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis receives the Democratic presidential nomination at the party’s convention in Atlanta. In 1988, Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini accepts a truce with Iraq, even though he said the decision was like drinking poison.

July 20, 1983: The Mahoning County Democratic Campaign Committee spent nearly $44,000 to elect party-endorsed candidates in the Youngstown, Struthers and Poland Village primary elections.

The Trumbull County Fair Board says poor weather kept attendance down and caused the fair to lose $8,000 in 1983.

GF Furniture Systems, formerly GF Business Equipment In., reports a second quarter net loss of $382,000, double the loss for the same quarter a year earlier.

July 20, 1968: About 150 smallmouth bass, each weighing about two pounds, are released into the Mahoning River below the Milton Dam by game protectors.

William Shranko, Youngstown chairman of the Mahoning County drive to collect signatures to place George Wallace on the Ohio presidential ballot, says the petition drive on the Mahoning County Courthouse steps was curtailed after threats were reported against petition circulators.

Buffalo Bill’s punter-linebacker Paul Maguire, a former Ursuline High School star, and quarterback Tom Flores grab a petty larceny suspect after they saw him taking license plates from Maguire’s car in a restaurant parking lot in a Buffalo suburb.

July 20, 1958: Youngstown Sheet Tube Co. begins moving into its new multimillion-dollar general office building in Boardman, vacating its headquarters in the Stambaugh Building.

Miss Helen Buzard, principal of Butler School for 15 years, will be the principal of the new Harrison School in Youngstown. Miss Marjory Lane, principal of Tod School, will oversee both Tod and Butler.

Mrs. Edna J. Pickard of W. LaClede Avenue is elected treasurer of the National Secretaries Association during the group’s convention in Minneapolis.

July 20, 1933: Making a “blow torch” of the fumes from an empty 50-gallon alcohol drum costs three Crandall Avenue boys their lives when the drum explodes. Dead are Walter Engel, 15; Joseph Olieo, 6 and Frank Olieo, 7. Another boy, Donald Seliga, 15, was burned in the explosion. His father, Edward Seliga, 41, and a neighbor Dominic Flask, were burned when they came to the aid of the victims.

Mahoning County Sheriff William Englehardt, an assistant prosecutor and five deputies pose as suckers at the Sheesley carnival in Wright Field long enough to see a roulette wheel and other gambling games going, then they shut down the Midway.

In preparation for instituting a shorter work week, Youngstown district plants are taking applications from thousands of willing workers.