Years Ago

Today is Monday, Sept. 21, the 264th day of 2009. There are 101 days left in the year. On this date in 1897, responding to a letter from 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon, the New York Sun runs its famous editorial by Francis P. Church that declares, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.”

In 1937, “The Hobbit,” by J.R.R. Tolkien, is first published. In 1938, a hurricane strikes parts of New York and New England, causing widespread damage and claiming some 700 lives. In 1948, Milton Berle makes his debut as permanent host of “The Texaco Star Theater” on NBC. In 1959, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, continuing his U.S. visit, reaffirms his country’s desire for friendship with the United States in a speech during a dinner at San Francisco’s Palace Hotel. In 1970, “Monday Night Football” makes its debut on ABC as the Browns defeat the New York Jets 31-21 in Cleveland. In 1982, Amin Gemayel, brother of Lebanon’s assassinated president-elect, Bashir Gemayel, is himself elected president. NFL players begin a 57-day strike, their first regular-season walkout ever. In 1987, NFL players call a strike, mainly over the issue of free agency. (The 24-day walkout prompts football owners to hire replacement players.) In 1989, Hurricane Hugo, packing sustained winds up to 135 mph, crashes into Charleston, S.C. Twenty-one students in Alton, Texas, die when their school bus, involved in a collision with a soft-drink delivery truck, careens into a water-filled pit.

September 21, 1984: Columbiana County Sheriff Richard Koffel and Prosecutor David Tobin announce as many as 80 people will be charged following a year-long investigation into illegal drug trafficking in the county.

Warren industrialist H. Alexander Pendleton has applied for designation of his building at Market Street and Park on Courthouse Square as an historical structure. The building, built in the 1860s, most recently housed the downtown Strouss department store and is being converted to accommodate shops and offices.

The structural iron skeleton is taking shape at Youngstown State University for the $15 million Harry Meshel Hall.

September 21, 1969: Sharon police arrest a 19-year-old Trout Place man who had been on the lam for four months after escaping from the Mercer County Jail, where he was held on charges related to the theft of copper from a scrap yard.

The introduction of jumbo jets at large metropolitan airports is expected to boost traffic at smaller airports, such as Youngstown, by diverting more medium sized passenger planes to the smaller cities.

The restored Warner Theater reopens as the home of the Youngstown Symphony with a performance of Strauss’s “Die Fledermaus.” Franz Bibo conducted the orchestra and stars of the New York operatic stage joined the Philharmonic Chorus and Dana Concert Choir.

September 21, 1959: Thomas F. Patton, president of Republic Steel Corp. will give a series of 10 minute radio broadcasts explaining issues behind the continuing nationwide steel strike.

An alert Youngstown policeman follows the watery trail left by a leading radiator from the scene of a hit skip accident on W. Federal Street to a Lincoln Avenue address, where the owner of the car that left the scene is arrested. A Warren man driving the other car is hospitalized.

Some 800 drivers and warehousemen for the Standard Oil Co. of Ohio, including 70 in Youngstown, agree to a new contract that includes an 11 cent increase, bringing the hourly wage to $2.72 for drivers.

September 21, 1934: Democratic ranks in Mahoning County are split wide open for the November election as 200 “New Deal” faction leaders found a new Roosevelt-Davey-Donahey campaign organization.

Mahoning County’s relief list rises to nearly 14,000 as Catherine Brown, county case supervisor, announces that 951 families have been added to the rolls since Sept. 1.

Youngstown’s drive against parking violators shifts into high gear with 33 cars towed overnight, bringing to 138 the number towed so far from the downtown area.