Today is Tuesday, March 25, the 85th day of 2008

Today is Tuesday, March 25, the 85th day of 2008. There are 281 days left in the year. On this date in 1965, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. leads 25,000 marchers to the state capitol in Montgomery, Ala., to protest the denial of voting rights to blacks.

In 1634, English colonists sent by Lord Baltimore arrive in present-day Maryland. In 1865, during the Civil War, Confederate forces attack Fort Stedman in Virginia, but are forced to withdraw by counterattacking Union troops. In 1894, Jacob S. Coxey begins leading an “army” of unemployed from Massillon, Ohio, to Washington to demand help from the federal government. In 1908, movie director David Lean (“Brief Encounter,” “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Doctor Zhivago”) is born in Croydon, England.

March 25, 1983: The Montgomery Wards department stores in Boardman and Niles will close in two months. About 275 people are employed full- and part-time at the two stores.

Rosemary Marich, a math teacher at Bennett School in Youngstown, is named Outstanding Math Teacher in Ohio by the Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

The Boardman Local Board of Education pledges $1,000 toward the four-county coalition to oppose utility rate increases being sought by Ohio Edison Co. and East Ohio Gas Co.

March 25, 1968: Youngstown police pick up three men for questioning in a burglary at Consumers Market, 722 Hillman St., and arrest two others in connection with burglaries at Peacock Gardens on South Ave. and Jack Lempke Chevrolet on Market Street.

Fire of undetermined origin destroys Spring Hills, a private club east of the Donnybrook Golf Course in Hubbard Township. Damage is estimated at $20,000. Richard Stiver of Hubbard is club president.

An overflow crowd of 6,000 attends the finals of the 34th Mahoning-Shenango Kennel Club show at Idora Park, where a Kerry Blue Terrier, “Champion Donagayl’s King Essler,” owned by Don Plumb of Bettendorf, Iowa, wins best of show.

March 25, 1958: Mill Creek Park will have what may be one of the most beautiful rose gardens in the nation as a result of a bequest of Mrs. Elizabeth A. Fellows, 1359 Mahoning Ave., who died March 19 at 96. Her estate, which includes the family homestead overlooking the park, is estimated to be worth $400,000.

General Fireproofing Co., world’s largest manufacturer of metal office furniture, unveils a completely new line of executive office furniture known as Italic styling. National news and magazine writers fly into Youngstown for a press conference.

Ohio Edison Co. and its subsidiary Pennsylvania Power Co. will spend $70 million for expanding and improving its properties.

March 25, 1933: The body of Mrs. Cyril Neff of Canfield is exhumed as prosecutors pursue murder charges against her husband. She was killed by a shotgun blast at her home in what was originally ruled an accidental death.

One mill worker is burned and a mill building is damaged when 50 tons of molten metal overflow a ladle and pour into the mill yard at the Republic Steel Corp. open hearth at the Center Street bridge .Robert Hamilton, 39, is in South Side Hospital in fair condition.