Today is Friday, Oct. 3, the 277th day of 2008. There are 89 days left in the year. On this date in

Today is Friday, Oct. 3, the 277th day of 2008. There are 89 days left in the year. On this date in 1863, President Lincoln proclaims the last Thursday in November Thanksgiving Day.

In 1929, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes formally changes its name to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In 1941, Adolf Hitler declares in a speech in Berlin that Russia has been “broken” and would “never rise again.” In 1951, the New York Giants capture the National League pennant as Bobby Thomson hits a three-run homer off the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Ralph Branca in the “shot heard ’round the world.” In 1952, Britain conducts its first atomic test as it detonates a 25-kiloton device in the Monte Bello Islands off Australia. In 1962, astronaut Wally Schirra blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard the Sigma 7 on a nine-hour flight. In 1968, American Independent Party presidential candidate George Wallace taps retired Air Force Gen. Curtis E. LeMay to be his running mate. In 1968, the Howard Sackler play “The Great White Hope,” starring James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander, opens on Broadway. In 1988, Lebanese kidnappers release Indian educator Mithileshwar Singh, who’d been held captive with three Americans for more than 20 months. In 1995, the jury in the O.J. Simpson murder trial finds the former football star not guilty of the 1994 slayings of his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. (However, Simpson is later found liable in a civil trial). In 1998, Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s conservative government narrowly wins re-election. Also, Pope John Paul II beatifies Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, the World War II archbishop of Zagreb, a controversial figure because many Serbs and Jews had accused him of sympathizing with the Nazis. In 2003, a tiger attacks magician Roy Horn of duo “Siegfried & Roy” during a performance in Las Vegas, leaving the superstar illusionist in critical condition on his 59th birthday.

October 3, 1983: Thousands of area residents spend an enjoyable Sunday at the sixth annual Ocoberfest sponsored by the Boardman Rotary Club.

Presidential candidate John Glenn is loudly booed when he says during a candidate forum at the National Organization for Women convention that opponents of the equal rights amendment outworked proponents, who “loafed.”

Quarterback Ron Jaworski hurls three touchdown passes to lead the Philadelphia Eagles to a 28-24 victory over the Atlantic Falcons.

October 3, 1968: Federal postal inspectors and Youngstown police arrest a postal clerk at the main post office after searching his car and apartment and charging him with possession and sale of obscene films and literature.

Youngstown Schools Superintendent Woodrow Zinser says that kickoff time for city football games will be 5 p.m. in an effort to eliminate violence after games.

Youngstown State University President Albert Pugsley tells 5,000 new freshmen at convocation that long hair and facial hair are a matter of personal preference, but student unrest or demonstrations that might disrupt university operations will not be tolerated.

October 3, 1958: The Vindicator’s first half straw poll shows Boardman voters will give Republican candidates majorities, except in the congressional race, where incumbent Democrat Michael J. Kirwan gets the nod.

Thirteen Russian steel experts tour Youngstown area steel operations, looking and listening but saying little.

Mass condemnation proceedings appear likely for more than a dozen buildings on the south sides of W. Federal Street and W. Rayen Avenue at Westlake’s Crossing.

October 3, 1933: The Youngstown Federation of Women’s Clubs gives its strong support for the city’s slum elimination project after federation committee members tour the slum districts and find “unbelievable living conditions.” They see firetraps without light, sanitary facilities or running water.

The creation of a Youngstown Boxing Commission is “clearly without any authority and is illegal,” Ohio Attorney General John W. Bricker rules. Wrestling, says Bricker, is subject to councilmanic regulation.

Mrs. James A. Campbell, 78, widow of steel magnate James A. Campbell who died 13 days earlier, dies in her Logan Road home of heart disease.

Youngstown Mayor Mark Moore says city police will enforce the curfew and any boy or girl found on the street after 9 p.m. without an escort will be arrested and turned over to juvenile court.