Today is Monday, Feb. 16, the 47th day of 2009. There are 318 days left in the year. This is

Today is Monday, Feb. 16, the 47th day of 2009. There are 318 days left in the year. This is Presidents’ Day. On this date in 1862, during the Civil War, some 14,000 Confederate soldiers surrender at Fort Donelson, Tenn. (Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s victory earns him the nickname “Unconditional Surrender Grant.”)

In 1804, Lt. Stephen Decatur leads a successful raid into Tripoli Harbor to burn the U.S. Navy frigate Philadelphia, which had fallen into the hands of pirates. In 1868, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is organized in New York City. In 1923, the burial chamber of King Tutankhamen’s recently unearthed tomb is unsealed in Egypt by English archaeologist Howard Carter. In 1945, American troops land on the island of Corregidor in the Philippines during World War II. In 1959, Fidel Castro becomes premier of Cuba a month and a half after the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista. In 1968, the nation’s first 911 emergency telephone system is inaugurated, in Haleyville, Ala. In 1998, a China Airlines Airbus A300-600R crashes near Taipei, Taiwan, killing all 196 people on board.

February 16, 1984: Two Leetonia men, Harold “Corky” Wurster, 56, and Roy McElroy, 58, are killed when their plane crashes shortly after take off from Salem Airpark in a heavy fog.

Harry Meshel, D-Youngstown, president of the Ohio Senate, says his office is working on a redistricting plan that would not have a major effect on the 11th, 17th and 18th Congressional districts.

February 16, 1969: Former Mayor Frank R. Franko drops out of the Youngstown Democratic mayoral primary, leaving Mayor Anthony B. Flask, former Mayor Frank X. Kryzan, former Municipal Judge Don L. Hanni and three others.

Norman P. “Nick” Johnson, supervisor of athletics for the Youngstown Park and Recreation Commission, receives the 1959 Gripers civic achievement award. Gripers is a noonday luncheon group that meets daily at Ravers restaurant.

February 16, 1959: Dr. Reuben Gould, Cleveland psychiatrist, testifies that an 18-year-old youth on trial for the kidnapping and rape of a 15-year-old Struthers girl was insane at the time of the crime.

Youngstown Mayor Frank X. Kryzan appoints Robert Frank Bakalik, 26, of Schenley Avenue, manager of the Youngstown Airport.

During a whirlwind tour of flood-damaged Northwestern Pennsylvania, Gov. David L. Lawrence advises district officials to “keep in touch” with Congressman Michael Kirwan of Youngstown, who heads the important House Appropriations subcommittee on the Interior.

February 16, 1934: Ohioans who will be applying for old-age pensions when they become available in July must be 65 years old, a citizen of the United States, a resident of Ohio for at least 15 years and a resident of their county for at least a year.

Judge Erskine Maiden Jr. finds Carl Bixler, former Youngstown patrolman, guilty of robbing the Grennan Baking Co.