Years Ago

April 25, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Sunday, April 25, the 115th day of 2010. There are 250 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1507: German cartographer Martin Waldseemueller names a huge land mass in the Western Hemisphere “America,” in honor of Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci.

1792: Highwayman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier becomes the first person under French law to be executed by the guillotine.

1859: Ground is broken for the Suez Canal.

1898: The United States formally declares war on Spain.

1901: New York Gov. Benjamin Barker Odell Jr. signs an automobile registration bill which imposes a 15-mile-per-hour speed limit on highways.

1945: During World War II, U.S. and Soviet forces link up on the Elbe River, a meeting that dramatizes the collapse of Nazi Germany’s defenses.

1959: St. Lawrence Seaway opens to shipping.

1983: Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov invites Samantha Smith to visit his country after receiving a letter in which the Manchester, Maine, schoolgirl expressed fears about nuclear war.

VINDICATOR FILES

1985: Seven area students are among 1,800 U.S. high school seniors winning $2,000 National Merit Scholarships: Patrick T. Headley, Karen V. Chiu, Mark A. Lynn, Sarah B. Berman, John P. Dalbec, Mark E. Nichols, and Manohar K. Prabhu.

Youngstown City Council delays action on legislation that would ban electronic draw poker machines in the city, questioning whether the action would be legal.

Mahoning County Sheriff Edward Nemeth rejects a suggestion by the Mahoning County grand jury that the City-County Jail Committee consider having a private company operate the jail. Nemeth says Ohio law mandates that the county sheriff operate the jail.

1970: Garry G. Webb, 14, a freshman at Austintown Fitch, has a young pet fox, named Red, that he pulled from a hollow stump in the woods behind his Webb Road home. A year ago, Garry pulled six fox pups from a den in Howland Township after a friend trapped the vixen. He sold those as pets.

Atty. Nathaniel R. Jones, chief general counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is honored by more than 600 people at a banquet at the Mahoning Country Club.

A 48-year-old Poland man is sentenced to probation by U.S. District Court Judge James C. Connell in Cleveland after pleading guilty to embezzling $65,000 from the Dollar Savings & Trust Co. of Youngstown.

1960: Seventy custom cars and hot rods are on display in the Idora Ballroom in the second annual car show sponsored by the Road Knights Rod and Custom Club.

Mahoning County’s 25 franchised new car dealers parade their 1960 models down Federal Street and will hold a new car show on Central Square.

Four Youngstown University co-eds vie for May Queen: Ilona Walko, Geraldine Zeller, Peggy Lou Dignan and Marion Minghetti.

1935: Three gunmen hold up a mail truck at Pine Street and Franklin in downtown Warren, briefly kidnapping driver Burl E. Villers and escaping with $90,000.

Alton R. Mackin, a quiet South High graduate, shocks Navy recruiters in Cleveland, scoring an unheard-of perfect 100 on the pre-induction test.

A rough draft of a proposed home rule charter for Mahoning County is undergoing examination by the legal committee, which will give special attention to the legality of a provision that would give legislative powers to a five-member board of commissioners.

Stars in the Fitch High School production of “Never Say Die,” are Rosella Frederick, Mary Welther, Marion Buckner, LaVerne Neff, Lillian Allen and Evelyn Ripple.