Today is Monday, June 16, the 168th day of 2008. There are 198 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Monday, June 16, the 168th day of 2008. There are 198 days left in the year. On this date in 1858, as he accepts the Illinois Republican Party’s nomination for U.S. Senate, Abraham Lincoln says the slavery issue has to be resolved, declaring, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

In 1883, baseball’s first “Ladies’ Day” takes place as the New York Gothams offer women free admission to a game against the Cleveland Spiders. (New York wins, 5-2.) In 1897, the government signs a treaty of annexation with Hawaii. In 1903, Ford Motor Co. is incorporated. In 1932, President Hoover and Vice President Charles Curtis are renominated at the Republican national convention in Chicago. In 1933, the National Industrial Recovery Act becomes law. (It is later struck down by the Supreme Court.)

June 16, 1983: A federal court jury finds Mahoning County Sheriff James A. Traficant Jr. innocent of bribery and tax evasion. The foreman of the jury, Joseph Christopher of Girard, says seven of the jurors voted to acquit Traficant on the first ballot. It took three days of deliberations to arrive at a unanimous verdict.

Fred Joseph, 17-year-old convicted killer of Niles Patrolman John Utlak, is sentenced to life in prison, with 30 years to be served as a minimum.

A fire levels the Buckeye Industrial Products Manufacturing plant near West Middlesex. Damage is estimated at $200,000.

June 16, 1968: Dr. Robert Foster, 42, of Youngstown returns from completing volunteer medical services in the Mekong Delta, treating Vietnamese civilians.

An estimated 35,000 people from Lawrence County’s 18 parishes are expected at Cascade Park in New Castle for the 21st annual Catholic Day outing.

Richard P. McLaughlin, a native of Youngstown who practices law in Washington, D.C., is named editor-in-chief of “Law Notes,” a major publication of the American Bar Association.

June 16, 1958: The closing of St. Augustine Church in Wilson Avenue, Youngstown’s only all-Negro Roman Catholic parish, means the integration of St. Augustine’s parishioners into churches near where they reside, the Rt. Rev. Msgr. William Nash, pastor of St. Edward Church, tells 400 Chesterton Club members.

A gunman waited on the roof of Johnny Garneau’s Smorgasbord Restaurant in Market Street Ext. and robs the manager of $2,000 as he was leaving.

Three Youngstown realtors are appointed by Mahoning County commissioners to appraise the proposed site of a sewage treatment plant at Route 224 and state Route 625 in Boardman Township that would alleviate pollution of Lake Newport. The owner is asking $2,000 an acre.

June 16, 1933: Approximately 150 Mahoning County farmers will go into the first organized co-operative to produce, sell and distribute milk and dairy products ever attempted in Ohio. Triangle Dairy Co.’s stock is owned entirely by area farmers.

The U.S. Congress adjourns for the remainder of the year and will convene Jan. 3, rather than the first Monday in December as in the past.

Tommy Pemberton, a long-time supporter of sandlot baseball, is named supervisor of Youngstown playgrounds.