Years Ago

Today is Sunday, Sept. 13, the 256th day of 2009. There are 109 days left in the year. On this date in 1959, the Soviet space probe Luna 2 becomes the first manmade object to reach the moon as it crashes onto the lunar surface. (Because of the time difference, it is already Sept. 14 in Moscow when lunar impact takes place.)

In 1759, during the final French and Indian War, the British defeat the French on the Plains of Abraham overlooking Quebec City. In 1788, the Congress of the Confederation authorizes the first national election, and declares New York City the temporary national capital In 1948, Republican Margaret Chase Smith of Maine is elected to the U.S. Senate, becoming the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress. In 1959, Elvis Presley first meets his future wife, 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu, while stationed in West Germany with the U.S. Army. (They married in 1967, but divorced in 1973.) In 1971, a four-day inmates’ rebellion at the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York ends as police and guards storm the prison; the ordeal and final assault claims 43 lives. In 1989, Fay Vincent is elected commissioner of Major League Baseball, succeeding the late A. Bartlett Giamatti. In 1993, at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat shake hands after signing an accord granting limited Palestinian autonomy. In 1998, former Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace dies in Montgomery at age 79.

September 13, 1984: The LTV Steel Corp, which has closed one of its pipe-making facilities at the Campbell Works, says it has barely enough orders to keep the plant’s adjacent seamless mill operating. CEO David H. Hoagland urges U.S. controls on imports.

U.S. District Judge William K. Thomas rejects a bid for a new trial for Mahoning Valley gangster Ronald Carabbia and three other men convicted of racketeering in the 1977 bomb death of Cleveland waterfront boss Danny Greene.

Toy World announces that for each $75 in lay-aways, customers will be able to also lay-away the year’s most popular board game, Trivial Pursuit, which is selling for $19.99.

September 13, 1969: Atty. Joseph Sheban of Youngstown donates three Cedars of Lebanon to Mill Creek Park. He had to obtain a special permit for the trees, which are considered holy in his native land of Lebanon.

Andy Knauer, horticulturist at Fellows Riverside Gardens, is leaving Mill Creek Park to take charge of the Denver Botanical Gardens.

James W. DeGarmo Jr., assistant professor of the Criminal Justice Department at Youngstown State University, is one of seven men appointed to the new Ohio Organized Crime Prevention Council by Gov. James A. Rhodes.

September 13, 1959: Rayen School issues a handbook for students, the first of its kind in the city. Principal Andrew M. Lindsay says the message to students is “School should be considered as an opportunity, and each student should do his best while attending.”

Despite the dampening economic effects of the steel strike, Youngstown district residents continue to buy new and used automobiles, based on the latest monthly figures.

The new lightweight compact cars being brought out in the fall by the Big Three, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, may boost Youngstown district steel output to new records in 1960, analysts say.

September 13, 1934: The Hall China Co. of East Liverpool announces that it has completed a $75,000 expansion project.

Floyd Crossley, 38, accused of manslaughter in the deaths of four little girls struck and killed by his auto Aug. 15, pleads guilty and is sentenced by Judge J.H.C. Lyon to from one to 20 years in the Ohio penitentiary. He tells the judge, “I owe society a debt and I am willing to pay it.”

A dispute in Youngstown over the proper closing time for liquor establishments appears to be settled by the state liquor commission, which orders a 1 a.m. closing time.