YEARS AGO

November 28, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Saturday, Nov. 28, the 332nd day of 2009. There are 33 days left in the year. On this dae in 1909, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s notoriously difficult Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 has its world premiere in New York, with Walter Damrosch conducting the New York Symphony and Rachmaninoff himself at the piano.

In 1520, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Pacific Ocean after passing through the South American strait that now bears his name. In 1859, American author Washington Irving dies in present-day Tarrytown, N.Y., at age 76. In 1919, American-born Lady Astor is elected the first female member of the British Parliament. In 1942, nearly 500 people die in a fire that destroyed the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston. In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin begin conferring in Tehran, Iran, during World War II. In 1964, the United States launches the space probe Mariner 4 on a course to Mars. In 2001, Enron Corp. collapsed after would-be rescuer Dynegy Inc. backed out of an $8.4 billion deal to take it over.

November 28, 1984: Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins, Auditor Edward Bush and Treasurer Harold Williams announce a joint effort to collect more than $5 million in delinquent personal property taxes.

Three former Youngstown athletes return as guests of the Curbstone Coaches, Garcia Lane, former South High star who plays with the USFL’s Baltimore Stars, Brian Marrow, also of South, playing with the Toronto Argonauts, and Dave Dravecky, formerly of Boardman, pitcher for the San Diego Padres.

November 28, 1969: Guy R. Codding, executive secretary of the Youngstown Area Community Chest for nearly 15 years, accepts a post as executive director of the Community Health and Welfare Council of Sarasota County, Florida.

Thomas J. Lavern, city finance director in the Anthony B. Flask administration and a recognized expert on municipal finances, is named by Mayor-elect Jack C. Hunter to continue in the top finance post.

November 28, 1959: The 1959 Christmas shopping season gets off to a successful opening downtown with nearly all merchants reporting they were happy with the results. One department store said sales were 30 percent above those of 1957. The day after Thanksgiving kickoff was canceled in 1958 due to a snow storm.

Sen. John F. Kennedy, a presumed Democratic candidate for president, tells reporters in Denver that he is opposed to using federal funds to promote birth control measures in foreign countries.

The owner of a North Jackson restaurant is ordered into Mahoning County Juvenile court where he is told to repay $500 that a 15-year-old boy lost playing marble boards and is told that if he continues to allow juveniles to gamble, he will go to jail.

November 28, 1934: An Ohio Senate taxation committee exempts milk, bread and newspapers from the proposed 3 percent sales tax.

Robert Esham Randolph, president of the Mississippi Valley Association, issues another plea for early completion of a Beaver-Mahoning canal during the association’s 16th annual convention in St. Louis.

A petition asking that a receiver be appointed to operate the Cold Metal Process Co. to adjust claims and defend patent suits until there is harmony among the company’s directors.