Years Ago

Today is Saturday, July 25, the 206th day of 2009. There are 159 days left in the year. On this date in 1909, French aviator Louis Bleriot becomes the first person to fly an airplane across the English Channel, traveling from Calais to Dover in 37 minutes.

In 1866, Ulysses S. Grant is named General of the Army of the United States, the first officer to hold the rank. In 1868, Congress passes an act creating the Wyoming Territory. In 1946, the United States detonates an atomic bomb near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific in the first underwater test of the device. In 1956, the Italian liner Andrea Doria collides with the Swedish passenger ship Stockholm off the New England coast late at night and begins sinking; at least 51 people are killed. In 1963, the United States, the Soviet Union and Britain initial a treaty in Moscow prohibiting the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, in space or underwater.

July 25, 1984: The Eastgate Development and Transportation Agency remains in political limbo as government officials from Mahoning and Trumbull counties look to the state for help in deciding the agency’s future.

Pre-election reports show that Lyle Williams, Republican incumbent in the 17th Congressional District, is outspending his Democratic challenger, Mahoning County Sheriff James A. Traficant Jr., by almost 10 to one. Williams has raised $200,000; Traficant, $20,000.

The Ohio Supreme Court unanimously uphold’s Niles’ marijuana law, which is the toughest in the state and makes possession of less than 100 grams of marijuana a first-degree misdemeanor, which carries a penalty of up to six months in jail.

July 25, 1969: W. O. Strausbaugh, 79, one of the best known auto dealers in Ohio and founder of the Dodge dealership that bore his name, dies at Otto’s Nursing Home.

Hail stones larger than golf balls fall on Youngstown’s North Side, during a brief thunderstorm, clogging sewers and causing flooding near the William B. Pollock Co. and Commercial Shearing and Stamping.

July 25, 1959: A flaming torch is thrown at Oral Roberts’ huge tent cathedral on Mahoning Avenue after 12,000 people had departed the opening night services, but L.H. Chastain, a night watchman, extinguishes it before any damage was done.

Edna Lowmiller, 62, a retired East High School teacher, dies in a violent two-car crash near Grove City, Pa., while on a sight-seeing trip.

The Rev. Warner E. Holmgren, pastor of Dayton Trinity Church, is named pastor of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church on Oak Hill Avenue in Youngstown.

July 25, 1934: Fred I. Griest, 52, well-known Warren man, is murdered in his parked automobile in E. Market Street near the Gillen Funeral Home by two men. The Warren Police Department has issued a $200 reward for information leading to an arrest.

The Mahoning, Shenango and Beaver valley communities unite in a common campaign, Canal Day, which will be a direct appeal to President Roosevelt for a Beaver-Mahoning rivers canal.

Truscon Steel Co. announces a profit of $26,494 on sales of $3.8 million, the first time the company has shown a profit since 1930.