Years Ago

Today is Friday, July 31, the 212th day of 2009. There are 153 days left in the year. On this date in 1777, the Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, is made a major-general in the American Continental Army.

In 1556, St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus — the Jesuit order of Catholic priests and brothers — dies in Rome. In 1875, the 17th president of the United States, Andrew Johnson, dies in Carter County, Tenn., at age 66. In 1945, Pierre Laval, premier of the pro-Nazi Vichy government, surrenders to U.S. authorities in Austria; he is turned over to France, which later ties and executes him. In 1948, President Harry S. Truman helps dedicate New York International Airport (later John F. Kennedy International Airport) at Idlewild Field. In 1964, the American space probe Ranger 7 reaches the moon, transmitting pictures back to Earth before crashing onto the lunar surface. In 1969, the American space probe Mariner 6 flies by Mars, sending back images of the Red Planet. In 1972, Democratic vice-presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton withdraws from the ticket with George McGovern following disclosures Eagleton had once undergone psychiatric treatment. In 1989, a pro-Iranian group in Lebanon releases a grisly videotape showing the body of American hostage William R. Higgins, a Marine lieutenant-colonel, dangling from a rope. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev sign the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow. In 1999, Chicago authorities say as many as 46 more residents died as a result of a relentless heat wave that enveloped much of the nation and produced the hottest July on record in New York City.

July 31, 1984: Mahoning County Prosecutor Vincent E. Gilmartin says he will not convene the county grand jury early to consider an investigation of Youngstown’s housing rehabilitation program.

Two Warren Municipal Court clerks are indicted by the Trumbull County grand jury in connection with more than $50,000 in missing court funds.

A fire heavily damages Thumm’s Bicycle Shop in Warren, one of the city’s oldest businesses.

July 31, 1969: An early morning explosion, the second on Market Street in two weeks, damages several automobiles at the Auto Plaza, 706 Market Street.

Marine Pfc. Robert L. Ellis, 20, of 1115 Ford Ave., Youngstown, is killed in action near Hoi An, Vietnam. He is Mahoning County’s 73rd combat fatality of the war.

A 25-year-old W. Delason Avenue man is sentenced to 15 years in a federal penitentiary for the armed robbery of the Newport Branch of People’s Bank in August 1983.

July 31, 1959: Whitney H. Herr, executive secretary of the Mahoning County Tuberculosis and Health Association since 1940, resigns to accept a position as assistant executive director of the Health Association of Rochester.

Griff Jones, 68, leading Republican in the 1920s and former chairman of the Mahoning County Board of Commissioners, dies in South Side Hospital.

WKST, the Channel 45 station that telecasts ABC network programs from its transmitter on Shady Run Road, is authorized to switch to channel 33 and increase its signal power from 200 to 209 kilowatts.

July 31, 1934: Eleven law students from the district, including three from Youngstown, are among 288 students who pass the bar exam in Columbus. The Youngstowners are John B. Payne, Bernard Schwartz and Oscar B. Glick. Fred Guarnieri of Warren and Stanley V. Wilder of Niles were also among the new lawyers.

Some 70 new federal work projects are scheduled to reopen in Mahoning County, giving jobs to about 3,000 relief workers through August.

A severe electrical and rainstorm sweeps through the Mahoning and Shenango valleys, blowing over a smokestack at Wheatland, Pa., killing Glen Vaughn, 14, and injuring a companion, Chester Cole, 13.