Years Ago

Today is Monday, Oct. 5, the 278th day of 2009. There are 87 days left in the year. On this date in 1921, the World Series is carried on radio for the first time as Newark, N.J., station WJZ (later WABC) relays a telephoned play-by-play account of the first game from the Polo Grounds, where the New York Giants are facing the New York Yankees, to a studio announcer who repeats the information on the air. (Although the Yankees win the opener, 3-0, the Giants win the series, 5-3.)

In 1892, the Dalton Gang, notorious for its train robberies, is practically wiped out while attempting to rob a pair of banks in Coffeyville, Kan. In 1947, President Harry S. Truman delivers the first televised White House address as he speaks on the world food crisis. In 1953, Earl Warren is sworn in as the 14th chief justice of the United States, succeeding Fred M. Vinson. In 1958, racially desegregated Clinton High School in Clinton, Tenn., is mostly leveled by an early morning bombing. In 1969, the British TV comedy program “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” makes its debut on BBC 1. In 1988, Democrat Lloyd Bentsen lambastes Republican Dan Quayle during their vice presidential debate, telling Quayle, “Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.” In 1989, a jury in Charlotte, N.C., convicts former PTL evangelist Jim Bakker of using his TV show to defraud followers. The Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, is named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

October 5, 1984: General Motors Corp. appeals an Ohio Department of Taxation finding that the company owes an extra $1.1 million in personal property tax in Trumbull County, which could affect the income of several school districts.

Commercial Shearing Inc. has put its Allied Metal Division in Niles up for sale, putting the future of about 35 employees in doubt.

October 5, 1969: Intricate and expensive computers have become one of the most important tools of Youngstown district business firms, including brokerage houses, doing in minutes accounting chores that used to take days.

A slogan adopted by Youngstown firemen, “Firefighters fight fires, not people,” has touched off a controversy with Youngstown police who believe it reflects negatively on them. Firefighters have come under attack when responding in some parts of the city, and the slogan was meant to discourage that.

October 5, 1959: A college without religion in its curriculum is omitting one of the most important areas in a student’s life, Dr. Howard Jones, president of Youngstown University, tells the Youngstown Ministerial Association during a meeting at St. John’s Episcopal Church.

R.W. Ramsdell, a former Youngs–towner who is president of East Ohio Gas Co., announces a program to help bring more industry to the northeastern Ohio area served by East Ohio.

October 5, 1934: The number of natural gas and telephone connections in Youngstown continued to increase during September, continuing steady month-to-month increases over the last year.