Today is Saturday, May 31, the 152nd day of 2008. There are 214 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Saturday, May 31, the 152nd day of 2008. There are 214 days left in the year. On this date in 1889, more than 2,000 people perish when a dam break sends water rushing through Johnstown, Pa.

In 1809, composer Franz Joseph Haydn dies in Vienna, Austria. In 1819, poet Walt Whitman is born in West Hill, N.Y. In 1908, actor Don Ameche is born in Kenosha, Wis. In 1910, the Union of South Africa is founded. In 1916, during World War I, British and German fleets fight the naval Battle of Jutland off Denmark; there is no clear-cut victor, although the British suffer heavier losses. In 1961, South Africa becomes an independent republic. In 1970, tens of thousands of people die in an earthquake in Peru. In 1976, Martha Mitchell, the estranged wife of former Attorney General John N. Mitchell, dies in New York. In 1977, the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, three years in the making, is completed. In 1994, the United States announces it is no longer aiming long-range nuclear missiles at targets in the former Soviet Union.

May 31, 1983: A few thousand area residents line downtown Youngstown streets for the Memorial Day parade. Lt. Col. Walter M. Duzzny, commander of the Ohio National Guard’s 437 the Military Police Battalion, was parade marshal.

Anthony Gutierrez, a former Youngstown police lieutenant, testifies in the trial of Sheriff James A. Traficant Jr. that the confession the FBI says Traficant signed was unusual because it contained spelling errors that were not initialled by Traficant, as would be normal procedure.

May 31, 1968: Col. Clair S. Hazell, commander of the Youngstown Air Reserve 190th Tactical Airlift Group in Youngstown, is marshal of the parade in Youngstown marking the 100th anniversary of Memorial Day.

A 43,000 square-foot industrial plant at 8015 Market St. is sold by Stephen Baytos and Associates to Brentwood Originals, a new industry to the area which is expected to employ about 50 women producing bedspreads and decorative pillows.

The Youngstown Area Board of Realtors raises its recommended minimum fee for selling improved properties from $600 to $750.

May 31, 1958: The new $500,000 First Presbyterian Church at Robbins Avenue and Summit Street is dedicated.

Ohio’s “slow down and live” campaign, designed to cut the number of deaths on Ohio highways during the Memorial Day weekend, appears to be having little effect, with 10 fatalities registered during the first 30 hours.

Pat O’Connor, a 29-year-old race car driver from North Vernon, Ind., dies after his car overturns and bursts into flames at the Indianapolis 500. He is the 48th man to die in the speedway’s history.

May 31, 1933: Youngstown pays tribute to its dead with the longest and most brilliant parade held in the city in many years and at six separate memorial services.

Two drivers and a mechanic die in the Indianapolis 500 race: Mark Billman, G.L. Jordan and Lester Spangler. Two men also died during qualification runs, make the 1933 race the deadliest since 1919.

Eighty-four more Mahoning County youths and 49 from Trumbull County leave on a special Erie train for training at Camp Knox to prepare them for service in the Civilian Conservation Corps.