Years Ago

Today is Sunday, Oct. 11, the 284th day of 2009. There are 81 days left in the year. On this date in 1884, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt is born in New York City.

In 1779, Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski, fighting for American independence, dies two days after being mortally wounded during the Revolutionary War Battle of Savannah, Ga. In 1809, just over three years after the famous Lewis and Clark expedition ends, Meriwether Lewis is found dead in a Tennessee inn, an apparent suicide; he was 35. In 1958, the lunar probe Pioneer 1 is launched; it fails to go as far out as planned, falls back to Earth, and burns up in the atmosphere. In 1979, Allan McLeod Cormack and Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield are named co-recipients of the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their work in developing the CAT scan X-ray.

October 11, 1984: Marathon bargaining between the teachers union and the New Castle Area School Board produces nothing but tired negotiators as the date approaches when students will not be able to make up lost days when classes resume.

Americans spent $355 billion on health care in 1983, a record 10.8 percent of the gross domestic product, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports.

With little fanfare, Warren Area Jaycees make local history, welcoming two women to their ranks, a month after national Jaycees voted to allow women members. The women are Diane Bielecki, a Packard Electric engineer, and Theresa Nephew, a Warren lawyer.

October 11, 1969: “Great deeds from every land and every nation were and are for mankind, not merely for nations,” say Municipal Judge Joseph Donofrio during an early Columbus Day ceremony on Youngstown’s Central Square.

A panorama of “Greek” sorority activities will be staged at Youngstown State University for the annual fall quarter rush tea for interested coeds.

Rabbi Mendel L. Abrams endorses a drive for decency in Youngstown and says it is time for Youngstown to earn a reputation as a city that is sick of sin.

October 11, 1959: Slow resumption of steel production is anticipated in the Youngstown district after President Dwight Eisenhower invokes the Taft-Hartley Act to end the 89-day old USW walkout.

Mr. and Mrs. John Worman are living in Leetonia after selling their 104-acre farm and donating the proceeds of the sale, $25,000, to Wittenberg College. They’ve never seen the college but were impressed with its commitment to Christian education.

Members of the Mahoning County Chiropodist Society will provide free foot examinations for all children of school age or younger at the Central YMCA for seven hours on a Saturday.

Ohio will receive $149 million in federal highway funds in fiscal 1961, second among the states only to California’s $227 million.

October 11, 1934: The YMCA’s membership enrollment campaign opens with 179 members and $1,376 in cash already reported or about 12 percent of the goal.

The Grand Commandery of Ohio Knights Templar accepts the invitation of St. John’s Commandery No. 20 to hold its state convention in Youngstown in 1935.

Police launch a campaign against premature Halloween pranks, arresting 19 people, mostly boys, for annoying citizens, throwing fruit and vegetables and destructive pranks.