Monday, August 31, 2009
Today is Monday, Aug. 31, the 243rd day of 2009. There are 122 days left in the year. On this date in 1803, explorer Meriwether Lewis departs Pittsburgh, sailing down the Ohio River; he joins up with William Clark in Louisville, Ky., the following October. (The next year, Lewis and Clark began their famous expedition toward the Pacific coast.)
In 1886, an earthquake rocks Charleston, S.C., killing 60 people, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. In 1888, Mary Ann Nichols, the apparent first victim of “Jack the Ripper,” is found slain in London’s East End. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an act prohibiting the export of U.S. arms to belligerents. In 1954, Hurricane Carol hits the northeastern Atlantic states. Connecticut, Rhode Island and part of Massachusetts bear the brunt of the storm, which results in nearly 70 deaths. In 1969, boxer Rocky Marciano dies in a light airplane crash in Iowa, a day before his 46th birthday. In 1980, Poland’s Solidarity labor movement is born with an agreement signed in Gdansk that ended a 17-day-old strike. In 1986, 82 people are killed when an Aeromexico jetliner and a small private plane collide over Cerritos, Calif. The Soviet passenger ship Admiral Nakhimov collides with a merchant vessel in the Black Sea, causing both to sink; up to 448 people reportedly die. In 1988, 14 people are killed when a Delta Boeing 727 crashes during takeoff from Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.
August 31, 1984: The New Castle Federation of Teachers gives notice that it will strike the 4,500- student school district unless a contract agreement is reached between the 255-member teachers union and the school board.
The Boardman Board of Education votes to place a 3.9 mil levy on the November ballot, even though the board had been told that a 7-mill levy defeated in June was barely sufficient.
A fire of suspicious origin destroys the Bertner W. Tandy senior citizens housing development a on Monette Street in Campbell. The sprawling $2.2 million one-story complex was due to open in a few weeks.
August 31, 1969: U.S. Rep. Michael J. Kirwan says funds for a new Youngstown Post Office may be included in the 1971 appropriations if a suitable site can be found.
With 85,871 attending “Pennsylvania Day” at the Canfield Fair, a record is set for Saturday attendance. It is the third straight record attendance day at the fair.
Andrew H. Bobeck, a Rayen School graduate, is one of four employees of the Bell Laboratories to share a patent for “magnetic bubbles” that can store information on computers. Among the scientists who worked on the project was W.H. Shockley, Nobel Prize winner.
August 31, 1959: Kathleen Fitz-Patrick, a June graduate of East High School, is killed when the car in which she was a passenger crashed a stop sign at Himrod Avenue and Jackson Street and was struck by another vehicle. Mrs. Johnnie Ruth Breyer, 32, a Youngstown mother of four, is killed when her Volkswagen flipped on a rain-slicked road near Akron.
Ohio Gov. Michael DiSalle says his administration intends to create a million new jobs with the state’s new Department of Industrial Economic Development.
August 31, 1934: A tent city is springing up at the Canfield Fairgrounds as preparations are made for opening day of the big county exposition.
George E. Roudebush, superintendent of Youngstown schools, says the financial picture is a little brighter as the district opens its doors to 35,000 students to begin the 1934-35 school year.
The state relief commission approves a five-week relief budget of $314,913, of which $120,933 will go for work projects and $194,880 for direct relief.
Burglars who cut through iron bars to gain entry to the Hartzell Bros. Co. store on West Federal Street apparently had a truck ready to haul away a large amount of clothing valued at $3,000.