Today in history

Today is Sunday, July 5, the 186th day of 2009. There are 179 days left in the year. On this date in 1865, William Booth founds the Salvation Army in London.

In 1811, Venezuela becomes the first South American country to declare independence from Spain. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the National Labor Relations Act. In 1940, during World War II, Britain and the Vichy government in France break off diplomatic relations. In 1946, the bikini, designed by Louis Reard, makes its debut during an outdoor fashion show at the Molitor Pool in Paris. In 1947, Larry Doby makes his debut with the Cleveland Indians, becoming the first black player in the American League. In 1948, Britain’s National Health Service Act goes into effect, providing government-financed medical and dental care. In 1975, Arthur Ashe becomes the first black man to win a Wimbledon singles title as he defeats Jimmy Connors. In 1984, the Supreme Court weakens the 70-year-old “exclusionary rule,” deciding that evidence seized in good faith with defective court warrants could be used against defendants in criminal trials.

July 5, 1984: Having booted 32 of 38 field goals in his first two seasons with the Denver Broncos, Salem’s Rich Karlis is looking forward to the 1984 NFL season.

Five people are reported injured by fireworks accidents in New Castle area, including Ronald Peak, 16, who is in fair condition in Mercy Hospital, Pittsburgh.

Ray Travaglini will be honored as “Man of the Year” at the Italian Scholarship League banquet at Fonderlac Country Club.

July 5, 1969: A ferocious storm sweeps through the Mahoning Valley causing heavy damage and power outages. Karen Miller, an 18-year-old college student in Poland, is killed by a fallen tree near her home on College Lane.

A 19-year-old Niles youth is in satisfactory condition in Trumbull Memorial Hospital after losing his left hand when someone threw an explosive into his car and he reached for it.

Marine Sgt. James A. Kyne, 20, of Ellsworth, who had been the 1966 valedictorian of Western Reserve High School, is killed by hostile fire in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam. He was serving his second tour of duty in the war.

July 5, 1959: Fifty-one teams of women fliers land at Youngstown Municipal Airport, one of the optional stops on the transcontinental Powder Puff Derby from Lawrence, Mass., to Spokane, Wash. An estimated 10,000 people watch the planes land.

George Roudebush, superintendent of Youngstown schools for six years and Columbus schools for 12 years, dies of a heart attack at his Columbus home. He was 66.

Twenty-three Youngstown women are competing in the Miss Universe contest qualifier pageant at the Hotel Pick-Ohio.

July 5, 1934: T.E. Ernie McLean, a night watchman at Thombs Bros. Garage, is brutally murdered by someone who was apparently familiar with the garage. After beating McLean to death, the killer took $38 from the cash drawer.

Marie Curie, the codiscoverer of radium, dies of pernicious anemia, which physicians said had been caused by an accumulation of radium in her system, a martyr to science.

In one of the noisiest celebrations of the Fourth of July in Youngstown in many years, 16 people are injured by firecrackers. There were also five Trumbull County residents and six in Sharon injured by fireworks.

Henry P. Fletcher, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee, says the party will mount an attack of President Roosevelt’s new deal, which “is based on the proposition that the people cannot manage their own affairs and that a government bureaucracy must manage for them.”