Today is Friday, Sept. 5, the 249th day of 2008. There are 117 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Friday, Sept. 5, the 249th day of 2008. There are 117 days left in the year. On this date in 1972, Arab guerrilla members of Black September attack the Israeli delegation at the Munich Olympic games; 11 Israelis, five guerrillas and a police officer were killed in the siege.

In 1774, the first Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia. In 1793, the Reign of Terror begins during the French Revolution as the National Convention institutes harsh measures to repress counterrevolutionary activities. In 1836, Sam Houston is elected president of the Republic of Texas. In 1958, the novel “Doctor Zhivago” by Russian author Boris Pasternak is published in the United States for the first time. In 1975, President Ford escapes an attempt on his life by Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, a disciple of Charles Manson, in Sacramento, Calif. In 1997, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II breaks the royal reticence over Princess Diana’s death, delivering a televised address in which she called her former daughter-in-law “a remarkable person.” In 1997, Mother Teresa dies in Calcutta, India, at age 87. In 2007, Fred Thompson announces on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” that he was running for the Republican presidential nomination; his candidacy lasted less than five months.

September 5, 1983: The huge task of removing contaminating soil and buried drums containing hazardous chemicals at the former Nease Chemical plant begins. An estimated 400 truckloads of soil will be taken to a hazardous waste landfill in Michigan.

Junior Jamie DeVore of Dover will be the starting quarterback when the Youngstown State University Penguins open the 1983 season against Eastern Kentucky, the defending NCAA 1-AA National Champion.

September 5, 1968: A slightly built bandit robs the North Side Branch of the Dollar Bank, escaping in a 1961 Chevrolet Corvair.

Youngstown City Council enacts a new city law empowering police to stop and search anyone they suspect has committed a crime or is about to commit a crime. The ordinance was sponsored by Fifth Ward Councilman Jack C. Hunter.

Mayme E. Choffin, 81, of Wildfern Drive, whose gift of $100,000 in 1951 helped develop a vocational school in Youngstown, dies after suffering a heart attack. She was the widow of contractor C.C. Les Choffin.

September 5, 1958: The coke plant at Youngstown Sheet Tube Co.’s Campbell Works is knocked out of operation by a tremendous explosion after lightning ignites gas from the plant’s gas cleaning system. None of the 75 workers is injured.

Youngstown school officials issue a stern warning about behavior and dress at the football preview at South Field. Girls wearing shorts will not be admitted, nor will grade-school children who are not accompanied by parents.

September 5, 1933: Youngstown Health Commissioner C.H. Beight orders the opening of city schools postponed for at least a week after Gertrude Smith, 2, of Meadows Street, dies of infantile paralysis. There are 14 cases of the disease under quarantine in the city.

W.A. Smith, 36, of Youngstown, a World War veteran and father of eight children, dies in a railroad accident in Danville, Ill., a day before he was to be awarded a Silver Star in Columbus in recognition of his brilliant war record in France.

The Ohio legislature is considering a proposal to tax slot machines, dog racing tracks and horse racing bookies.