Today is Sunday, Oct 12, the 286th day of 2008. There are 80 days left in the year. On this date in

Today is Sunday, Oct 12, the 286th day of 2008. There are 80 days left in the year. On this date in 1492 (Old Style calendar; Oct. 21 New Style), Christopher Columbus arrives with his expedition in the present-day Bahamas.

In 1870, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee dies in Lexington, Va., at age 63. In 1908, the Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago Cubs 8-3 in Game 3 of the World Series, played in Chicago. In 1918, the Cloquet Fire erupts in Minnesota, claiming some 450 lives. In 1933, bank robber John Dillinger escapes from a jail in Allen County, Ohio, with the help of gang members who kill Sheriff Jess Sarber. In 1960, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev disrupts a U.N. General Assembly session by pounding his desk with a shoe when a speaker criticized his country. In 2000, 17 sailors are killed in a suicide bomb attack on the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen. In 2002, a bomb blamed on Islamic militants destroys a nightclub on the Indonesian island of Bali, killing 202 people, many of them foreign tourists.

October 12, 1983: A number of unpaid reserve deputies are patrolling Mahoning County after Common Pleas Judge Charles Bannon takes under advisement a request for an injunction filed by laid-off deputies that would have barred Sheriff James A. Traficant Jr. from using unpaid replacements.

A Vindicator-YSU poll shows Mahoning Valley voters appear to prefer Ohio Sen. John Glenn over former Vice President Walter Mondale in the 1984 race for Democratic nomination for president.

Fire Chief Charles O’Nesti summons every fireman on duty at the nine outlying stations to report to the central fire station downtown where he issues a stern warning that tardiness will not be tolerated. The chief used the unconventional method of stressing the importance of being on time for work after two assistant chiefs complained about laxness. There was only one alarm, a false alarm, during the 45 minute session.

October 12, 1968: Comparative calm returns to night football in Youngstown after Chaney defeats South, 6-0. One youth is arrested for failing to obey a police order to disperse. There are no reports of bottle or rock throwing.

First Lt. Kenneth J. Nervie, 23, of 210 Chalmers Ave., dies of wounds suffered Oct. 5 in Vietnam. He is Mahoning County’s 62nd serviceman to die in Vietnam.

Operations return to normal at the Oldberg Manufacturing Co. plant on N. Meridian Road after a wildcat strike over a work assignment closed the plant and idled 350 men for a day.

October 12, 1958: Youngstown officials announce an immediate crackdown on automobile dealers who are open for business on Sunday, a violation of state law.

Catholic churches throughout Youngstown celebrate high requiem masses on Sunday to mark the death of Pope Pius XII after an unusual order is issued by the College of Cardinals in the Vatican.

Population in Youngstown’s Standard Metropolitan Area grows from 528,498 in 1950 to 607,317 in 1958. If present trends continue, the area, which includes Mahoning, Trumbull and Mercer counties will grow to 808,000 in 1975.

October 12, 1933: Youngstown’s Estate Housing Corp. launches a campaign to raise 15 percent in local funds that will be needed to pursue a $4 million slum clearance program in the city.

Archbishop Edward A. Mooney, the Youngstown native who has served as apostolic delegate to India and Japan for Pope Pius XI, is installed as head of the Rochester, N.Y., Diocese by Cardinal Patrick Hayes of New York.

Doctors at South Side Hospital send to Philadelphia for a hook-like surgical instrument that they hope to use to extract a screw from the lung of Emil Villecco, 6, of Niles. Taking the boy to Philadelphia for the operation would have cost $1,000, but no relief money was available. After the clinic agreed to cut the cost to $250, Niles Council introduced a bill to pay for the treatment, but it was tabled.