Today is Palm Sunday, March 16, the 76th day of 2008. There are 290 days left in the year. On this

St Columba Dedication

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Today is Palm Sunday, March 16, the 76th day of 2008. There are 290 days left in the year. On this date in 1968, during the Vietnam War, the My Lai Massacre of Vietnamese civilians is carried out by U.S. Army troops; estimates of the death toll vary between 347 and 504. The same day, in Washington, New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

THESE FILE PHOTOS, from March 10, 1958, recorded the installation of the cross that sits atop the bell tower of St. Columba Cathedral on Wood Street in Youngstown. The cross was put in place by helicopter after being blessed by Bishop Emmet M. Walsh. While hundreds watched from below, there was a moment of suspense as the ropes became tangled around the 300 pound cross. Francis Gaffney, 27, of Liberty Township scrambled halfway up the cross to cut the lines, knowing that if a sudden gust drove the helicopter upward it would lift him and the cross into the air. Seconds after this photo was snapped by The Vindicator’s Lloyd S. Jones, the lines dropped and the copter whirled away. The Knights of Columbus contingent was at the ceremony, and two unidentified men stood in topcoats on the top of the cathedral.

In A.D. 37, on the 16th, Roman emperor Tiberius dies; he is succeeded by Caligula. In 1802, President Jefferson signs a measure authorizing the establishment of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. In 1915, the Federal Trade Commission begins operations. In 1926, rocket science pioneer Robert H. Goddard successfully tests the first liquid-fueled rocket, in Auburn, Mass. In 1978, Italian politician Aldo Moro is kidnapped by left-wing urban guerrillas, who later murders him. In 1984, William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, is kidnapped by gunmen; he dies in captivity. In 1985, Terry Anderson, Associated Press reporter, is abducted in Beirut; he is released in December 1991. In 1988, a federal grand jury indicts former National Security Adviser John Poindexter and fired White House aide Oliver North. (They are later convicted, but have their convictions overturned.)

March 16, 1983: Fire levels the $2 million clubhouse at Tippecanoe Country Club, leaving little more than two chimneys standing.

The Warren Board of Education votes to renew the contracts of 37 school administrators, with one board member, Willard Rubin, objecting that the district is top heavy.

March 16, 1968: Oliver Schroeder Jr., Case Western Reserve University law professor, tells the annual meeting of the 13th District, Ohio Bar Association, at Squaw Creek Country Club that it is the job of the law to keep technology from overwhelming society.

Michael Yohman, bookkeeping and civics teacher at East High School, is elected president of the Ohio Federal of Teachers (AFL-CIO) at the annual state convention in Hotel Ohio in Youngstown.

March 16, 1958: Dr. J. Fred Essig, superintendent of Youngstown schools, notifies junior and senior high school principals that rocket clubs are not to be sponsored by schools because of the danger factors involved.

Dr. William J. Flynn, Youngstown surgeon, will preside at the 1958 Ohio Cancer Conference in Cincinnati.

March 16, 1933: With the reopening of the banks, Youngstown merchants report a five-fold increase in the payment of bills.

Youngstown theater owners give union projectionists and stage hands an ultimatum: take pay cuts or the city’s theaters will be closed.