Years Ago

Today is Tuesday, Sept. 8, the 251st day of 2009. There are 114 days left in the year. On this date in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a “limited national emergency” in response to the outbreak of war in Europe.

In 1900, Galveston, Texas, is struck by a hurricane that kills an estimated 8,000 people. In 1930, the comic strip “Blondie,” created by Chic Young, is first published. In 1934, more than 130 people lose their lives in a fire aboard the liner SS Morro Castle off the New Jersey coast. In 1941, the 900-day Siege of Leningrad by German forces begins during World War II. In 1951, a peace treaty with Japan is signed by 49 nations in San Francisco. In 1974, President Gerald R. Ford grants an unconditional pardon to former President Richard Nixon. In 1994, a USAir Boeing 737 crashes into a ravine as it was approaching Pittsburgh International Airport, killing all 132 people on board. In 1998, Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals breaks major league baseball’s record for home runs in a single season, hitting his 62nd off Chicago Cubs pitcher Steve Trachsel and eclipsing the 37-year-old record held by Roger Maris. In 1999, former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley officially kicks off his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination with a rally in his hometown of Crystal City, Mo.

September 8, 1984: Niles school officials are looking for parent volunteers to man a “Neighborhood Watch” program to assist students in traveling safely to and from school.

The cost of mailing a letter is rising again, with first class stamps set to climb to 22 cents.

Alex Jones, 25, of Youngstown dies when his car crashes into a tree on East Cohasset Drive in Mill Creek Park during a police chase.

Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro says a group of Youngstown businessmen wants to buy the abandoned Voyager Motor Inn downtown and reopen it as a motel.

September 8, 1969: U.S. Steel Corp. Will install a $5 million air-cleaning facility at its Ohio Works in Youngstown.

The strike by teachers against the Struthers School District enters its fifth day with schools closed.

Jean McClure Kelty, coordinator of the children’s literature program at YSU and a founder and director of Animal Charity in Youngstown, receives her doctorate in English from Case Western Reserve University.

“Spotlight,” hosted by Mitch Stanley on WFMJ-TV salutes Camp Stambaugh on its 50th anniversary.

September 8, 1959: The number of road deaths over the Labor Day weekend exceeds 430 and is likely to top the prediction of 450. Ohio registers 30 holiday weekend traffic fatalities.

The Youngstown area has three new cases of polio, two boys and a girl, bringing the total of the year reported by city hospitals to 16.

Canfield High School and the district’s grad school will open the Tuesday after Labor Day with an estimated enrollment of 1,800, about 360 more than a year earlier.

September 8, 1934: Mahoning County Prosecutor J.H. Leighninger calls on Campbell Mayor T. Roy Gordon and Police Chief Frank Cunningham to rid the city of vice. John Cebula Jr., Campbell councilman at large, says the city has at least 12 houses of prostitution that operate openly.

Cornelia Pinchot, wife and political teammate of Pennsylvania Gov. Gifford Pinchot, enters the fall campaign as an independent candidate for the governorship.