Today is Sunday, June 14, the 165th day of 2009. There are 200 days left in the year. This is Flag

Today is Sunday, June 14, the 165th day of 2009. There are 200 days left in the year. This is Flag Day. On this date in 1777, the Continental Congress in Philadelphia adopts the Stars and Stripes as the national flag.

In 1801, former American Revolutionary War general and notorious turncoat Benedict Arnold dies in London. In 1846, a group of U.S. settlers in Sonoma proclaims Republic of California. In 1909, actor and folk singer Burl Ives is born in Hunt City, Ill. In 1919, John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown embark on the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. (Flying a Vickers Vimy biplane bomber, they take off from St. Johns, Newfoundland, and arrive 161‚Ñ2 hours later in Clifden, Ireland.) In 1943, the Supreme Court, in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, rules that children in public schools cannot be forced to salute the U.S. flag. In 1954, the words “under God” are added to the Pledge of Allegiance. In 1985, the 17-day hijack ordeal of TWA Flight 847 begins as a pair of Lebanese Shiite Muslim extremists seizes the jetliner shortly after takeoff from Athens, Greece.

June 14, 1984: Ralph DeSalle, a 41-year-old Youngstown police officer, is killed while directing traffic on I-680 when a tractor-trailer rig jackknifes and crushes him against a guardrail.

A short circuit in one vehicle causes a fire that heavily damages two of the four buses that Western Reserve Transit Authority uses to provide transportation for riders in wheelchairs.

The Cedar Street Bridge will be closed for about two weeks after heat causes the surface of the bridge to buckle.

June 14, 1969: Thirty-eight graduating sixth graders at Sheridan School in Youngstown present 19 new 49-star American flags to the school to replace those in the rooms that were faded, tattered and had only 48 stars.

Harry D. Hirsch, chairman of the board of Leader International Industries, announces plans to move the truck and automobile headlamp production of the Hall Lamp Co. from Detroit to the Mullins Manufacturing Division in Salem.

James E. Bosley, 17, of West Farmington, is pronounced dead at Trumbull Memorial Hospital after diving 18 feet from a bridge on county Route 213-C into the Grand River, which was only three feet deep.

June 14, 1959: A staff of nearly 260 part-time employees are ready to open Youngstown’s six swimming pools, 38 playgrounds, 10 baseball diamonds and eight tennis courts.

Flag Day 1959 is the unofficial goodbye ceremony for the nation’s 48-star banner, which came into use in 1912. A new 49-star flag will honor Hawaii’s statehood.

June 14, 1934: Judge George H. Gessner, dean of the Y Law School in Youngstown, is named by Gov. George White to the board of trustees of Kent State College.

A terrific explosion occurs while a tank truck is unloading gasoline into storage tanks at the public Parking Garage at Boardman and Walnut streets, rocking Youngstown’s downtown. A passerby was knocked down by the blast, a fireman was injured fighting the fire and 10 cars were destroyed.

Two young robbers escape after exchanging gunfire with Russell Myers of Whitney Avenue. Myers interrupted a robbery at the home of Howard Buttermore after a neighbor woman who heard Mrs. Buttermore moaning summoned him. The robbers were after a stamp collection valued at $500.

The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.