Saturday, February 21, 2009
Today is Saturday, Feb. 21, the 52nd day of 2009. There are 313 days left in the year. On this date in 1965, black Muslim leader and civil rights activist Malcolm X, 39, is shot to death inside the Audubon Ballroom in New York by assassins identified as members of the Nation of Islam.
In 1885, the Washington Monument is dedicated. In 1916, the World War I Battle of Verdun begins in France as German forces attack; the French are able to prevail after 10 months of fighting. In 1925, The New Yorker magazine makes its debut. In 1947, Edwin H. Land publicly demonstrates his Polaroid Land camera, which can produce a black-and-white photograph in 60 seconds. In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon begins his historic visit to China as he and his wife, Pat, arrive in Beijing. In 1973, Israeli fighter planes shoot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 over the Sinai Desert, killing all but five of the 113 people on board. In 1975, former Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman are sentenced to 21‚Ñ2 to eight years in prison for their roles in the Watergate cover-up. In 1989, the future president of Czechoslovakia, playwright Vaclav Havel, is convicted for his role in a banned rally and sentenced to nine months in jail. (He is released in May 1989.) In 1995, Chicago adventurer Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon, landing in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada. In 2000, consumer advocate Ralph Nader announces his entry into the presidential race, bidding for the nomination of the Green Party.
February 21, 1984: James F. Walker is elected president of the board of trustees of the Potential Development Program Inc.
Five Youngstown area minor league baseball players are special guests of the Curbstone Coaches. They are Andy Timko, Jim Tinkey, Dan Stryffeler, Bill Sattler and Jim Strichek.
February 21, 1969: William M. Cafaro, chairman of the board of the real estate development company that bears his name, is named a director of Peoples Bank of Western Pennsylvania in New Castle.
Four young men, whose homes range from Canada to Arizona, are arrested by Youngstown police in the wake of dozens of complaints from citizens about persistent magazine salesman knocking on doors after dark.
New Castle businessman Ernie DeJoseph wins $100,000, first prize in the New York monthly lottery.
February 21, 1959: Shareholders of Aetna-Standard Engineering Co. vote to sell the firm to the Blaw-Knox Co. for about $13 million.
Sharon Steel Corp. will add a second blast furnace and an additional open hearth at the Roehmer Works, bringing the division to capacity operations for the first time in nearly three years.
The Strand theater, a burlesque house on Central Square, is picketed by member of Motion Picture Operators Local 388 and Theatrical State Employees Local 70 after reopening with the use of nonunion personnel.
February 21, 1934: The Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority designates three areas — Watts Street-Andrews Avenue, “Monkey’s Nest” near Westlake’s Crossing and S. Center Street — for the city’s proposed $3 million housing rehabilitation program.
John J. Farrell, Democratic county chairman, and Fred Flood, Youngstown purchasing agent, are on record as candidates for the Youngstown postmastership.