Years Ago

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 5, the 217th day of 2009. There are 148 days left in the year. On this date in 1884, the cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal is laid on Bedloe’s Island in New York Harbor.

In 1858, American businessman Cyrus Field finishes laying out the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable between Newfoundland and Ireland. (However, after several weeks of use, the cable burns out.) In 1864, during the Civil War, Union Adm. David G. Farragut leads his fleet to victory in the Battle of Mobile Bay, Ala. In 1924, the comic strip “Little Orphan Annie,” by Harold Gray, makes its debut. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt establishes the National Labor Board, which is later replaced with the National Labor Relations Board. In 1953, Operation Big Switch begins as prisoners taken during the Korean conflict are exchanged at Panmunjom. In 1962, actress Marilyn Monroe, 36, is found dead in her Los Angeles home; her death is ruled a probable suicide from an overdose of sleeping pills. In 1963, the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union sign a treaty in Moscow banning nuclear tests in the atmosphere, in space and underwater. In 1968, the Republican National Convention convenes in Miami Beach, Fla. In 1969, the U.S. space probe Mariner 7 flies by Mars, sending back photographs and scientific data. In 1984, actor Richard Burton dies in Geneva, Switzerland, at age 58.

August 5, 1984: A federal grand jury in Cleveland has subpoenaed Youngstown area electrical contractors in an investigation of price fixing in the industry.

Despite booming auto sales, U.S. automakers are concerned about maintaining a foothold against an onslaught of foreign makes from Japan and Europe.

After almost a year of planning and preparation, organizers are counting down the days to Niles’ nine-day Sesquicentennial celebration.

August 5, 1969: Mrs. Irma A. Beede, 66, of Lisbon, wife of Youngstown State University football coach and well known as the Betsy Ross of Football for having made the first penalty flags ever used in football, dies in South Side Hospital.

A meeting of the Youngstown Board of Education to name new principals at North High and Scienceville Junior High is postponed after only three of seven board members show up.

Rescue workers labor for more than an hour to free two 17-year-old occupants of a car that struck a utility pole in the 600 block of Early Road. Both are in fair condition in South Side Hospital.

August 5, 1959: Federal Judge Paul C. Weick of Cleveland, a Youngstown native and graduate of Rayen School, is nominated by President Eisenhower to the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.

Responding to demands of the Youngstown Board of Trade that a ban on parking during the rush hour be lifted, Mayor Frank X. Kryzan orders free and unlimited parking at every available street space in the downtown area.

State Highway Director Everett S. Preston orders a freeze on road-building contracts, which will delay indefinitely construction of the McGuffey Road Bridge and Youngstown’s arterial expressway from Belle Vista to Williams Avenue.

August 5, 1934: The largest reforestation project ever undertaken in Ohio is under way at the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, where hundreds of thousands of trees have been planted on 700 acres. Eventually, 2,500 acres will have about 1,200 seedlings each planted on them.

Weekend dog races go on as scheduled at the Canfield Fairgrounds, despite a judge’s ruling that betting on the hounds is illegal in Ohio. The ruling won’t become official until it is entered in the court journal.

About 15,000 sportsmen are expected to attend the third annual field meet at Harding Park in Hubbard. World, national, state and local champions of trap and skeet shooting, bait casting, rifle and pistol shooting, softball and horseshoe pitching are expected.