Today is Friday, March 6, the 65th day of 2009. There are 300 days left in the year. On this date in

Today is Friday, March 6, the 65th day of 2009. There are 300 days left in the year. On this date in 1836, the Alamo in San Antonio falls to Mexican forces after a 13-day siege.

In 1853, Verdi’s opera “La Traviata” premieres in Venice, Italy. In 1857, the United States Supreme Court rules in Dred Scott v. Sandford that Scott, a slave, is not an American citizen and could not sue for his freedom in federal court. In 1933, a nationwide bank holiday declared by President Franklin D. Roosevelt goes into effect. In 1935, retired Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., dies in Washington. In 1944, U.S. heavy bombers stage the first full-scale American raid on Berlin during World War II. In 1957, the former British African colonies of the Gold Coast and Togoland become the independent state of Ghana. In 1967, the daughter of Josef Stalin, Svetlana Alliluyeva, appears at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi and declares her intention to defect to the West. In 1983, in a case that draws much notoriety, Cheryl Araujo is gang-raped atop a pool table in a tavern in New Bedford, Mass., called Big Dan’s; four men are later convicted of the attack. (Araujo is killed in a car accident 1986.) In 1987, 193 people die when the British ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes off the Belgian port of Zeebrugge. In 1999, the emir of Bahrain (Sheik Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa), a key Western ally who had ruled for nearly four decades, dies shortly after a meeting with Defense Secretary William Cohen; he was 65.

March 6, 1984: Warren fire officials are shifting through the shell of the Atlantic Apartments on Atlantic NW, which were gutted by fire, forcing residents, many of whom were little children, into the cold night.

Youngstown City Council repeats an offer to recall 21 city employees if the employees agree to do away with longevity pay and clothing allowances.

The Mahoning County Board of Health approves a 1985 appropriations budget of $550,244, an increase of $23,244 over the 1984 budget.

March 6, 1969: Mayor Anthony B. Flask announces that the city’s Fair Employment Practice Committee is beginning an “Affirmative Action” program that will recruit members of minority groups for city jobs.

Peter M. Wellman, 67, of Liberty Township, well-known businessman and theater operator who at one time ran 14 theaters in the area, dies of a sudden heart attack.

A truck driver, apparently blinded by smoke from a field fire, drives his rig into a car on the Ohio Turnpike near the Warren interchange, injuring six members of a West Virginia family.

March 6, 1959: Two-thirds of Youngstown schools have absence above the normal 10 percent rate as flu continues to spread through the city, J. Wesley Pollock, health supervisor, says.

The FBI is concentrating its search for bank robber Frank Sprenz, who has led police on a chase through Ohio and Pennsylvania, in the northeast corner of Ohio.

The 75-voice Wittenberg College Choir will present a concert of sacred music at Zion Lutheran Church, 3300 Canfield Road.

March 6, 1934: Fierce winds and lightning, only part of a weird mixture of weather, sweep through the area, damaging many homes and demolishes scores of garages.

Union C. DeFord, 70, former judge and leading Youngstown lawyer, dies of a heart attack at his home at 55 Indiana Ave.

The YWCA closes its 1934 membership campaign with a total of 2,885, exceeding the goal by 885.