Years Ago

Today is Wednesday, July 29, the 210th day of 2009. There are 155 days left in the year. On this date in 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the National Aeronautics and Space Act, creating NASA.

In 1030, the patron saint of Norway, King Olaf II, is killed in battle. In 1588, the English attack the Spanish Armada in the Battle of Gravelines, resulting in an English victory. In 1890, artist Vincent van Gogh, 37, dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Auvers-sur-Oise, France. In 1900, Italian King Humbert I is assassinated by an anarchist; he is succeeded by his son, Victor Emmanuel III. In 1914, transcontinental telephone service begins with the first test phone conversation between New York and San Francisco.

July 29, 1984: Dr. William C. Binning, chairman of the Mahoning County Republican Party, says he agrees with President Reagan that the selection of a woman as a vice presidential candidate is long overdue. Democratic Chairman Don L. Hanni Jr. predicts Geraldine Ferraro will attract a significant block of voters to the Democratic ticket.

Youngstown steel industry observers say they’re surprised by the severity of the summer slump as customers shut down for vacations and cut inventory.

Officials at Eastern Petroleum Inc. say Trumbull County’s first brine injection well in Fowler Township is working well and has been well received by neighbors.

July 29, 1969: A suit to recover fair cash value of stock shares in the Lykes-Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. merger is filed in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Clarence E. Potts Jr. is elected president of the Youngstown Greater Area Chapter of the Knights of Columbus.

July 29, 1959: Youngstown police arrest 11 youths on various charges at the Big Andy Drive-In Restaurant at 3613 Market St., scene of recent complaints of rowdyism and hot-rodding.

At least seven city employees either fail Civil Service Commission examinations for jobs they are holding or failed to place among the top three on lists to be certified to Mayor Frank X. Kryzan for permanent employment.

The FBI closes its books on a 26-year-old manhunt for a Toledo murderer with the disclosure that John Mirabella, a St. Louis hoodlum, died in 1955 in South Side Hospital under an assumed name. He had lived quietly in Youngstown for 13 years as Paul Mangine, a produce dealer.

July 29, 1934: A few Youngstown beer gardens, denied state liquor permits because of previous convictions, are enjoying a flourishing patronage in illegal liquor, a check of residential saloons discloses.

More than 200 members of the local post office staff attend a testimonial banquet honoring ex-postmaster B.E. Westwood and his successor, John J. Farrell.

A survey of all sections of Youngstown shows that the homes of 24,000 people have been saved by timely government aid in the form of HOLC loans that allowed more than 6,000 families to avoid foreclosure.