This day in history
Today is Monday, July 20, the 201st day of 2009. There are 164 days left in the year. On this date in 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin become the first men to walk on the moon after landing their lunar module. As he set foot on the lunar surface, Armstrong spoke his famous line, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Aldrin, who followed, described the scene as “magnificent desolation.”
In 1917, the draft lottery in World War I goes into operation. In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt is nominated for an unprecedented fourth term of office at the Democratic convention in Chicago. In 1954, the Geneva Accords divide Vietnam into northern and southern entities. In 1976, America’s Viking 1 robot spacecraft makes a successful, first-ever landing on Mars. In 1977, a flash flood hits Johnstown, Pa., killing more than 80 people and causing $350 million worth of damage. In 1999, after 38 years at the bottom of the Atlantic, astronaut Gus Grissom’s Liberty Bell 7 Mercury capsule is lifted to the surface.
July 20, 1984: Four employees of a North Side doctor who were convicted on charges of illegally processing drug prescriptions are each sentenced to a year and a half in prison, the maximum penalty for the fourth degree felony.
Mahoning County landowners are being asked to approve a $24 million bond program to finance repairs to county bridges over the nest 10 to 15 years.
July 20, 1969: The Rev. Morris W. Lee, acting president of the Youngstown Area community Action Council, asks County Prosecutor Vincent E. Gilmartin to investigate if recent disorders in Youngstown were tied to outside agitators.
Elvina Marie Stranahan, executive director of the Mahoning Valley Cap Fire Girls for eight years, resigns to join the national field staff of Camp Fire Girls.
July 20, 1959: Mylio Kraja of Poland, vice president and secretary of United Printing Co., is the first Youngstwon district man to become commander of the American Legion in Ohio.
Production at Saramar Aluminum Co., 4021 Mahoning Ave., is halted when about 70 employees of the packing and shipping department walk off the job in a dispute over the length of a coffee break.
July 20, 1934: City Council President Myron Williams proposes an ordinance that would bar liquor and beer places from within 300 feet of churches and schools.
John J. Farrell receives his commission as Youngstown Postmaster and announces that he will take over from Postmaster Eddie Westwood at the beginning of the week.