YEARS AGO

Today is Wednesday, Dec. 16, the 350th day of 2009. There are 15 days left in the year. On this date in 1773, American colonists, dressed as Indians, dump 342 chests of tea overboard from a British ship in Boston Harbor, staging a protest against British taxation. The event becomes known as “The Boston Tea Party.”

In 1809, Napoleon Bonaparte divorces Empress Josephine by an act of the French Senate. In 1916, Gregory Rasputin, a monk who wielded powerful influence over the Russian Czar, is murdered by a group of noblemen in St. Petersburg. In 1944, German forces begin the “Battle of the Bulge” in the Ardennes area of Belgium in World War II. In 1950. President Harry Truman proclaims a national state of emergency in order to fight “Communist imperialism.” In 1960, a United Air Lines DC-8 and a TWA Super Constellation collide over New York City, killing 134 people. In 1972, the Apollo 17 spacecraft heads for Earth after the last U.S. manned exploration of the Moon. In 1991, the U.N. General Assembly rescinds its 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism by an 111-25 vote. In 1996, a car bomb explodes outside the home of a prominent opposition leader in Medellin, Colombia, killing one person and wounding 48 others.

December 16, 1984: Ohio House Speaker Vern Riffe threatens to remove Rep. Joseph Vukovich III of Youngstown as chairman of the Civil and Commercial Law committee after Vukovich joins seven other Democrats in voting against a pay-raise bill for state and county elected officials.

Republican Margaret Dennison, the first woman elected county commissioner in Trumbull County, completes six years in office and is looking forward a new phase of public service in her life. She hasn’t ruled out running again for public office.

Dr. John J. McDonough, patron of the arts and past president of the Mahoning County Medical Society, is honored by the society as 1984 “Doctor of the Year.”

December 16, 1969: Capt. George L. Panno, president of Local 312 of the International Association of Firefighters, is named fire chief by Mayor-elect Jack C. Hunter.

Mario Guerrieri of Youngstown, sought on a fugitive warrant after he was convicted in an abortion case and sentenced to 1 to 7 years in the penitentiary, is arrested in a Cuyahoga County motel after Mahoning County deputies get a tip.

Trumbull County Commissioner Robert E. Hagan, 48, of Girard announces that he will seek the Democratic nomination for governor. Hagan says there is a need to transform the idealism of youth into government performance. A Marine Corps pilot in World War II, Hagan has been a pronounced “dove” on Vietnam.

December 16, 1959: Petitions containing more than 5,000 signatures are presented to Youngstown City Council opposing a proposed zone change for the Wick Avenue cultural area.

Mayor Frank X. Kryzan and Police Chief Paul H. Cress move to double the number of police patrol cars on city streets after dark for the remainder of the holiday season.

Clarence McMullen, 57, fired superintendent of the Mahoning County Home, is found not guilty of driving left of center in a two-car collision on Route 46 near Herberts Corners. It was the fourth accident for McMullen in a county vehicle and led to his firing.

U.S. Rep. Michael J. Kirwan asks the U.S. Army engineers to recommend to Congress that it authorize and fund the Crab Creek flood control project to safeguard Youngstown against future devastating flash floods.

December 16, 1934: Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, otherwise known as “Amos ‘n’ Andy”, are playing the Palace Theater in Youngstown. In an interview with The Vindicator’s John H. Auble Jr., they discuss their fascination with magic tricks.

Just 14 minutes before a midnight deadline, Atty. William A. Ambrose files a motion challenging the Mahoning County Board of Elections’ declaration that Prosecutor J.H. Leighninger won re-election over Ambrose. Ambrose filed a $2,500 bond.

Youngstown department stores and other downtown firms call in hundreds of “extras” to serve throngs of customers on a busy pre-Christmas Saturday.