Years Ago

Today is Friday, Dec. 11, the 345th day of 2009. There are 20 days left in the year. The Jewish Festival of Lights, Hanukkah, begins at sunset. On this date in 1936, Britain’s King Edward VIII abdicates to marry American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson.

On this date in 1792, France’s King Louis XVI goes before the Convention to face charges of treason. (Louis is convicted, and executed the following month.) In 1816, Indiana becomes the 19th state. In 1882, Boston’s renamed Bijou Theatre, the first American playhouse to be lighted exclusively by electricity, debuts with a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Iolanthe.” In 1937, Italy announces it is withdrawing from the League of Nations. In 1941, Germany and Italy declare war on the United States; the U.S. responds in kind. In 1981, the U.N. Security Council chooses Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru to be the fifth secretary-general of the world body. In 1983, Pope John Paul II visits a Lutheran church in Rome, the first visit by a Roman Catholic pontiff to a Protestant church in his own diocese. In 1997, more than 150 countries agree at a global warming conference in Kyoto, Japan, to control the Earth’s greenhouse gases.

December 11, 1984: Trumbull County Commissioner Arthur Magee proposes creation of a 36-county coalition to monitor utility costs and fight unnecessary rate increases.

The Federal Aviation Administration officials say a decision by Airport Manager Fred DeLuca to close the Youngstown Municipal Airport for one hour every morning during the cold season is arbitrary and ill-advised.

The Tamarkin Co. announces the closing of three area Valu King stores, one in Austintown, one in Warren and one in Sharon due to “disappointing sales.”

Eight men, including one from New Castle, Pa., are arrested by FBI agents and state and local police following a three-state dragnet aimed at sports betting.

December 11, 1969: General Motors Corp.’s huge Fisher Body-Chevrolet assembly plant at Lordstown will be shut down for Christmas and New Year’s weeks, along with 10 other GM facilities and some Chrysler Corp. plants.

A 1970 budget that contains three tax increases is unveiled by Sharon City Council.

Former astronaut John H. Glenn formally announces that he will seek the Democratic nomination for U.S. senator in the May primary election.

A month-long hunt by Youngstown police for the accused beater of a 10-month-old child and his mother ends with the arrest of a 20-year-old South Side man.

December 11, 1959: Youngstown Municipal Judge Robert B. Nevin will become legal counsel for the Youngstown Legal Aid Society when his term on the bench ends. He was defeated for re-election by Atty. Don L. Hanni Jr.

Three Youngstown food chain stores withdraw from sale certain varieties of chicken that may have been injected with a cancer-causing hormone.

Youngstown police issue an arrest warrant for a Rigby Street woman whose unvaccinated dog attacked three people in the neighborhood, including Jerry Bussy, 9, who was treated for a bite on his upper arm.

December 11, 1934: Youngs-town City Council approves the sale of $500,000 in bonds that would be used to finance construction of a new police station and new downtown fire station.

Youngstown experiences the coldest night of the season with a temperature of 2 degrees recorded at the Mahoning County Experiment Farm at Canfield.

Ohio Gov. George White issues a commutation of the sentence of Louis Mazer of Canton, convicted of manslaughter in the sensational slaying of Don R. Mellett, Canton newspaper editor who pursued a vigorous anti-crime campaign before being shot down in 1926. The trial judge and prosecutor recommended commutation, based on testimony Mazer, a member of a gang of Canton racketeers, gave against others.