Today in history

Today is Wednesday, April 22, the 112th day of 2009. There are 253 days left in the year. On this date in 1898, with the United States and Spain on the verge of formally declaring war, the U.S. Navy begins blockading Cuban ports. The USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship, the Buena Ventura, off Key West, Fla. Congress authorizes creation of the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, also known as the “Rough Riders.”

In 1864, Congress authorizes the use of the phrase “In God We Trust” on U.S. coins. In 1889, the Oklahoma Land Rush begins at noon as thousands of homesteaders stake claims. In 1938, 45 workers are killed in a coal mine explosion at Keen Mountain in Buchanan County, Va. In 1944, during World War II, U.S. forces begin invading Japanese-held New Guinea with amphibious landings at Hollandia and Aitape. In 1954, the publicly televised sessions of the Senate Army-McCarthy hearings begin. In 1983, the West German news magazine Stern announces the discovery of 60 volumes of personal diaries purportedly written by Adolf Hitler. However, the diaries turn out to be a hoax. In 1994, Richard M. Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, dies at a New York hospital four days after suffering a stroke; he was 81. In 2000, in a dramatic pre-dawn raid, armed immigration agents seize Elian Gonzalez from his relatives’ home in Miami; Elian is reunited with his father at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington.

April 22, 1984: Youngstown had a chance to get a $6 million steel-mill waste-reclamation plant, but it is going instead to Aurora in Portage County. Leonard A. Duval, president of Colerapa Inc., says he couldn’t get the necessary local support for his project.

With only three weeks left to promote a Mill Creek Park improvement project, an unexpected opponent has emerged, the Sierra Club, which says the park board is no longer maintaining Mill Creek in its natural state.

Alfred Leslie, an artist in residence at Youngstown State University, will open his show. “100 Watercolor Views along the Road” at the Butler Institute of American Art, after which the show will go on the road.

April 22, 1969: A welfare rights sit-in group that took over part of the county jail and offices in the afternoon and held it all night is evicted and 23 adults are arrested.

Union locals in Mahoning County are given a free hand on endorsement of the 12-mill Youngstown public schools operating levy in action that signals strong labor backing for the issue.

The Moyer Co., manufacturers of Seven Seas men’s slacks, will construct a $1 million plant in the River Bend Urban Renewal Area.

April 22, 1959: Five South Side juveniles are arrested by Pennsylvania State Police in Washington, Pa., in two cars they had stolen in Youngstown.

Joan Melek, a tall blonde with blue eyes, is elected queen at Youngstown University to reign over May Day ceremonies.

Ursuline High School and Memorial Presbyterian Church object to a permit that would allow the Wick Drive-In Hotel to sell beer and wine on its premises at 777 Wick Ave.

April 22, 1934: Fred A. LaBelle, former director of the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, is found guilty by a jury of six men and six women in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court of embezzling $8,500 from the district. After the verdict, he proclaims his innocence.

The first substantial contribution to the 1934 Community Chest Drive is received from former U.S. Justice John H. Clarke in the way of a $1,000 check. The campaign goal is $225,000.

Thirteen restaurants in Youngs-town, Campbell and Lowellville that did not qualify as legal restaurants in the opinion of the state liquor commission or did not get recommended by police chiefs or the county sheriff, nonetheless received permits to sell liquor by the glass.