Today in history

Today is Thursday, June 11, the 162nd day of 2009. There are 203 days left in the year. On this date in 1776, the Continental Congress forms a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence calling for freedom from Britain.

In 1509, England’s King Henry VIII marries his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. In 1770, Capt. James Cook, commander of the British ship Endeavour, discovers the Great Barrier Reef off Australia by running onto it. In 1919, Sir Barton wins the Belmont Stakes, becoming horse racing’s first Triple Crown winner. In 1947, the government announces the end of household and institutional sugar rationing, to take effect the next day. In 1959, the Saunders-Roe Nautical 1, the first operational hovercraft, is publicly demonstrated off the southern coast of England. In 1963, a Buddhist monk (Thich Quang Duc) sets himself afire on a Saigon street to protest the government of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem. In 1977, Seattle Slew wins the Belmont Stakes, capturing the Triple Crown. In 1985, Karen Ann Quinlan, the comatose patient whose case prompted a historic right-to-die court decision, dies in Morris Plains, N.J., at age 31. In 2001, Timothy McVeigh is executed by injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.

June 11, 1984: An East Side woman is killed when a firebomb is thrown through the front window of an Ayers Street home, turning the home into an inferno. Dead is Concepcion Carabellot, 53.

Eight Youngstown swimming pools will open June 19. Admission will be 25 cents for children and 75 cents for adults.

Korean and Vietnam War era veterans searching for jobs have a leg up on the competition thanks to a government program that pays part of their starting salaries, but a tight job market in the Youngstown area and a slow-starting bureaucracy have retarded its use.

The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-5, with Youngstown’s Dave Dravecky pitching the last three innings and picking up his sixth save.

June 11, 1969: Youngstown is losing a substantial share of its airline traffic to the Cleveland and Pittsburgh airports because of inadequate terminal facilities, says J.S. Andrews, chairman of Mayor A.B. Flask’s airport advisory committee.

Carl E. Knodle will retire as president of First Federal Savings & Loan Association, turning over the post to George W. Collier, a vice president.

Gangland reaction to the “messy“ grenade-slaying of Charles “Cadillac Charlie” Cavallaro in which one of his sons was killed and another injured is revealed in wiretaps of underworld figures released by the Justice Department.

More than 40 youth surround a police cruiser containing two officers outside the Kimmel Brook Homes project before police reinforcements arrive. One 19-year-old is arrested for inciting a riot and resisting arrest.

June 11, 1959: Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. urges between 800 and 900 employees who haven’t signed up for supplemental unemployment benefits to apply so they can be paid.

Two pilots, Lt. Tommie S. Pope and Lt. Ronald K. Hibbert, escape injury when their million-dollar TF102 Delta Dagger crashes and burns during takeoff at Youngstown Air Base after a tire blew out, repturing a fuel tank.

Mayor William C. Burbank suspends Warren Police Chief Manley English as a result of special treatment given to racketeer Mike Farah during his booking on charges of assault.

June 11, 1934: A fire at the Hazel Hotel traps five guests, injuring four and killing Meyer Scheff, 32, of Canton. Youngstown firemen say the fire started in the hotel office and spread quickly.

John Gleydura, 49, dies in a vain attempt to save a friend, Peter Cisck, who was overcome by fumes while digging a well in the basement of a home on Miley Road near Five Points.

More than 4,000 Youngstown Catholics sign a pledge circulated at the request of Cleveland Bishop Joseph Schrembs to avoid all movies “except those that do not offend decency and Christian morality.”

More than $700,000 will be paid out as dividends to depositors of Central Savings & Loan Co. and Home Savings & Loan Co.