Years Ago

November 24, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Tuesday, Nov. 24, the 328th day of 2009. There are 37 days left in the year. On this date in 1859, British naturalist Charles Darwin publishes “On the Origin of Species,” which explained his theory of evolution by means of natural selection.

In 1939, British Overseas Airways Corp. is formally established. In 1944, during World War II, U.S. bombers based on Saipan attack Tokyo in the first raid against the Japanese capital by land-based planes. In 1947, a group of writers, producers and directors that became known as the “Hollywood Ten” is cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about alleged Communist influence in the movie industry. In 1950, the musical “Guys and Dolls,” based on the writings of Damon Runyon and featuring songs by Frank Loesser, opens on Broadway. In 1963, Jack Ruby shoots and mortally wounds Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, in a scene captured on live television. In 1969, Apollo 12 splashes down safely in the Pacific. In 1971, hijacker “D.B. Cooper” parachutes from a Northwest Orient Airlines 727 over Washington state with $200,000 in ransom — his fate remains unknown .

November 24, 1984: Youngstown Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro says he has decided already that he will seek a second two-year term. Democratic Party Chairman Don Hanni III says he will work to make Ungaro a one-termer.

The Rev. Thomas Craig Hartley, associate pastor of the Redford Presbyterian Church, Detroit, is named pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Boardman.

President Reagan’s oldest son, Michael, says his stepmother, Nancy, is jealous of his family and that she should apologize for saying that he has been estranged from his father.

November 24, 1969: All Youngstown City Hall department heads are notified of a ban on all but vital spending for the rest of the year and warned that all expenditures may be curtailed if the city does not receive $525,000 in local government funds that are tied up in a court dispute.

In the wake of Michigan’s stunning 24-12 upset of the Ohio State Buckeyes, Penn State and Arkansas are arguing over who should get the No. 1 ranking in college football.

November 24, 1959: Boardman school officials ask the Boardman police for a closer watch on their high school building following the smashing of 15 windows. The vandalism is believed to be linked to an effort by the board of education to eliminate fraternities and sororities at the school.

Flames raze the McDonald Super Market, damage the post office and for a time threatened the first National Bank building on the West Side business area in Sharpsville.

November 24, 1934: Youngstown’s traffic engineer proposes a municipal auto inspection program, which meets with support and opposition during a public hearing at City Hall.

Determined to outwit the wily foxes that have killed most of the rabbits and many of the birds near Mesopotamia in Trumbull County, hundreds of men and boys join a giant fox hunt.

Nearly $7,500 a month is being paid in old age pensions to 240 men and women in Mahoning County, Margaret Meeks Watson, who is in charge of the local pension bureau reports.