Years Ago

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 4, the 216th day of 2009. There are 149 days left in the year. On this date in 1944, Anne Frank, 15, is arrested along with her sister, parents and four other people by German security after they had spent two years hiding from the Nazis in a building in Amsterdam. (Anne, who’d kept a now-famous diary during her time in hiding, died in March 1945 at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.)

In 1735, a jury finds John Peter Zenger of the New York Weekly Journal not guilty of committing seditious libel against the colonial governor of New York, William Cosby. In 1830, plans for the city of Chicago are laid out. In 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden are axed to death in their home in Fall River, Mass. Lizzie Borden, Andrew’s daughter from a previous marriage, is accused of the killings, but acquitted at trial. In 1900, Britain’s Queen Mother Elizabeth is born. In 1916, the United States reaches agreement with Denmark to purchase the Danish Virgin Islands for $25 million. In 1964, the bodies of missing civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney are found buried in an earthen dam in Mississippi. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter signs a measure establishing the Department of Energy. In 1987, the Federal Communications Commission votes to abolish the Fairness Doctrine, which requires radio and television stations to present balanced coverage of controversial issues.

August 4, 1984: The Ohio lottery hits a record jackpot of $24 million, attracting players from neighboring states and even from foreign countries.

Youngstown Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro says a special prosecutor and special grand jury would be the best way of investigating alleged irregularities in Youngstown’s Community Development Agency. County Prosecutor Vincent Gilmartin responds that the mayor has subpoena powers and should use them.

Three pioneer Youngstown women ministers in Youngstown talk about their experiences, both pleasant and unpleasant. They are The Rev. Jacqueline Russell, The Rev. Benita Rollins and The Rev. Laurie Miller.

August 4, 1969: Four people are killed and two injured when two cars, one of them headed the wrong way, collide on the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Beaver Falls. One of the drivers was Robert Burris, 20, of Struthers.

James R. Shutts, former Youngstown newspaperman, has made good in Sarasota, Fla., as a banker. He’s vice president of Sarasota Bank & Trust Co., in charge of public relations and business development.

Warren police catch three men during a burglary in progress at Berk’s Rare Coins Shop on Youngstown Road S.E.

August 4, 1959: Only five Mahoning County gamblers, four in Campbell and one in Struthers, purchase new $50 federal gambling stamps, according to the Internal Revenue Service in Cleveland.

Mahoning County commissioners vote to proceed with the issuance of $2.5 million in bonds as the county’s initial share of the cost of the West Branch Reservoir on the Mahoning River.

Lightning strikes in the midst of a group of Girl Scouts campers at Camp Julia Crowell in Summit County, killing two, Sally Park, 14, of Cleveland Heights and June Gamble, 13, of Media, Pa.

August 4, 1934: Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge Erskine Maiden rules that betting on dog races is illegal in Ohio, even if the pari-mutuel system is employed. Races at the Canfield Fairgrounds may continue while the case is appealed.

A 19-month-old Campbell boy, Nick Santoro Jr., dies when he climbs on the fender of a municipal bus that stopped to discharge a passenger and fell off when the bus pulled away.

The Youngstown YMCA will celebrate its 50th anniversary Sept. 26.