Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Today is Wednesday, Aug. 26, the 238th day of 2009. There are 127 days left in the year. On this date in 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing American women the right to vote, is certified in effect by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby.
In 55 B.C., Roman forces under Julius Caesar invade Britain, but achieve limited success. In 1883, the island volcano Krakatoa begins cataclysmic eruptions, leading to a massive explosion the following day. In 1939, the first televised major league baseball games are shown on experimental station W2XBS: a double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. (The Reds won the first game, 5-2, the Dodgers the second, 6-1.) In 1958, Alaskans go to the polls to overwhelmingly vote in favor of statehood. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson is nominated for a term of office in his own right at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, N.J. In 1978, Cardinal Albino Luciani of Venice is elected the 264th pope of the Roman Catholic Church following the death of Paul VI. He takes the name Pope John Paul I. In 2004, the nation’s supply of vaccine for the impending flu season takes a big hit when Chiron Corp. announces it had found tainted doses in its factory, and would hold up shipment of about 50 million shots.
August 26, 1984: At the close of the Republican National Convention in Dallas, U.S. Rep. Lyle Williams says revival more accurately describes the renomination of Ronald Reagan than coronation, because Reagan doesn’t want to be treated like royalty, but is an evangelist for putting God back in government.
The Shenango Valley Factory Outlet Mall will be open in the former Strouss department store in downtown Sharon within a month, project backers say.
Capt. Norman Zanders and Capt. Ruby Zanders take command of the Salvation Army citadel in Youngs–town, coming from Kearny N.J.
August 26, 1969: Within a year, the General Motors Lordstown plant will be the Mahoning Valley’s largest single employer, with 10,000 workers after expansion is completed on the Fisher Body Stamping plant and Chevrolet truck line.
A picket line placed around Struthers High School by three labor unions not only stopped work on three major jobs, but brought out a picket line of students who picketed the pickets.
George Bindas, chairman of Mahoning County Commissioners issues a personal appeal for people in Austintown to avoid unnecessary water use to help relieve low pressure problems in high areas.
During Final Fling Days at Idora Park all rides are 10 and 15 cents.
August 26, 1959: Mayor Frank. Kryzan says installing an additional 400 parking meters downtown would increase revenue for the city by $40,000 a year.
Nearly 3,000 Youngstown district workers in other fields, most of them railroaders, are idle as the nationwide steel strike enters its eleventh week.
The United Steelworkers of America and the Youngstown-Mahoning County Building and construction Trades Council sign a jurisdictional agreement that clears the path for an AFL-CIO merger on the county level.
August 26, 1934: Cpl. Fred E. Weinel of Youngstown is the center of attention at the Spanish-American War Veterans national convention in Pittsburgh because of his uncanny resemblance to Theodore Roosevelt.
George Bartholomew, 49-year-old coach of the W&J College wrestling team and a former Youngstowner, is sentenced to three to six years in the Western Penitentiary, after he pleads guilty to voluntary manslaughter in connection with the death of a female impersonator who had entertained at nightclubs in Pittsburgh and Atlanta.
A.W. Craver, chairman of the board of elections, is elected chairman of the Mahoning County Democratic Party. George S. Bishop is elected chairman of county Republicans.