Years Ago

Today is Saturday, Aug. 22nd, the 234th day of 2009. There are 131 days left in the year. On this date 1485, England’s King Richard III is killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field, effectively ending the War of the Roses. Henry Tudor succeeds Richard to become King Henry VII.

In 1787, inventor John Fitch demonstrates his steamboat on the Delaware River to delegates from the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. In 1851, the schooner America outraces more than a dozen British vessels off the English coast to win a trophy that comes to be known as the America’s Cup. In 1910, Japan annexes Korea, which remains under Japanese colonial rule until 1945. In 1922, Irish revolutionary Michael Collins is shot to death, apparently by Irish Republican Army members who are opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty that Collins had co-signed. In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon are nominated for second terms in office by the Republican national convention in San Francisco. In 1959, the New York Philharmonic orchestra, led by conductor Leonard Bernstein, opens a concert tour of the Soviet Union with a program in Moscow featuring works by Samuel Barber, Mozart and Shostakovich.

August 22, 1984: U.S. Rep. Lyle Williams, R-17th, expresses dismay that the platform approved at the Republican National Convention in Dallas “says nothing to areas like the Mahoning Valley” that are still awaiting the economic recovery being touted by President Reagan.

Mahoning County commissioners approve placing a 1.3-mill levy on the November ballot that would finance a $24 million bond program to repair and replace county bridges.

WHOT-FM radio, formerly WSRD — the wizard — becomes the most listened to radio station in the Youngstown area after switching from an album oriented rock station to one spinning top 40 songs six months ago.

August 22, 1969: Dennis J. Wellington, 14, son of police Sgt. Randall Wellington, is cut on the arms and head when he falls through a glass window at the Lawson Dairy Store, 74 Kenmore Ave., while being attacked by several youths.

Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. joins in court action with U.S. Steel Corp. to halt a wildcat coal mine strike in West Virginia that could threaten steel production.

August 22, 1959: Two hooded gunmen escape with $1,596 in Ohio Turnpike receipts after surprising three Youngstown Interchange collectors while they were tallying their collections in the office of the Route 7 interchange.

J.L. Mauthe, chairman of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., calls on leaders of the United Steelworkers of America to join with steel management in “recognizing the desirability and absolute necessity for adequate profits.”

August 22, 1934: State agents and Youngstown police raid an illicit liquor plant on Emerald Street that was accessible only through a 50-foot tunnels from the basement of one house to another. A 250-gallon still was operating and police seized eight gallons of moonshine.

The Youngstown Chamber of Commerce is organizing a committee that would investigate the possibilities for utilizing the home modernizing law in Youngstown.

The Wheeling Steel Corp. alleges that the National Steel Labor Relations Board created by Congress is unconstitutional.