Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Today is Wednesday, Oct. 28, the 301st day of 2009. There are 64 days left in the year. On this date in 1886, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France, is dedicated in New York Harbor by President Grover Cleveland.
In 1636, the General Court of Massachusetts passes a legislative act establishing Harvard College. In 1776, the Battle of White Plains is fought during the Revolutionary War, resulting in a limited British victory. In 1858, Rowland Hussey Macy opens his first New York store at Sixth Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan. In 1918, the Republic of Czechoslovakia proclaims its independence. In 1919, Congress enacts the Volstead Act, which provides for enforcement of Prohibition, over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto. In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt rededicates the Statue of Liberty on its 50th anniversary. In 1940, Italy invades Greece during World War II. In 1958, the Roman Catholic patriarch of Venice, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, is elected pope; he takes the name John XXIII.
October 28, 1984: A California aircraft firm is eyeing the vacant Commuter Aircraft facility in Vienna, but would require a federal loan to seal the deal and move in.
A 78-day battle between the Youngstown Board of Health and Neil Altman ends with the board firing Altman as city health commissioner. Altman is expected to appeal the firing to the Civil Service Commission.
October 28, 1969: One man is shot to death and at least three others are wounded at the Stop 5 entrance to Republic Steel Corp. as a caravan of nine trucks escorted by about 120 Teamsters meets a mob of about 400 striking independent steel haulers armed with baseball bats. Every police officer and sheriff’s deputy in the city respond and quell the melee.
The Ohio Hotel Management Co. receives tentative approval from the Youngstown Development Review Committee to develop plans for expansion of the Voyager Motor Inn.
Penn State and Florida gain the most ground among the top 10 football teams in the nation, but Ohio State maintains its commanding lead in the Associated Press major-college football poll.
October 28, 1959: Construction of a multimillion-dollar, 90-mile coal-carrying pipeline between East Liverpool and Ashtabula is being studied by Youngstown Coal Pipelines Co.
Congressman Michael Kirwan says the West Branch Reservoir project is the Youngstown district’s last chance to get its share of a $170 billion federal waterways bill.
Youngstown police nab a 27-year-old woman and a known Cleveland safe-cracker when a patrolman became suspicious after spotting the man’s car outside a vacant house on Jackson Street. Found inside the house was $5,000 worth of clothing taken in a burglary at J.B. Williams Tailor Shop on Federal Street.
October 28, 1934: The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. announces that it is closing its 428 grocery stores in Cleveland and is withdrawing from business there because of labor strife.
Russell Harold, a 27-year-old bus driver, is being held for questioning after shooting Robert Bowen, 24, through the brain following an argument over Bowen’s refusal to pay a 10-cent fair.