Years Ago

Today is Monday, Dec. 27, the 361st day of 2010. There are four days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1831: Naturalist Charles Darwin sets out on a round-the-world voyage aboard the HMS Beagle.

1904: James Barrie’s play “Peter Pan: The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up” opens at the Duke of York’s Theater in London.

1932: Radio City Music Hall opens in New York City.

1949: Queen Juliana of the Netherlands signs an act recognizing Indonesia’s sovereignty after more than three centuries of Dutch rule.

1968: Apollo 8 and its three astronauts make a safe, nighttime splashdown in the Pacific.

1979: Soviet forces seize control of Afghanistan. President Hafizullah Amin, who was overthrown and executed, is replaced by Babrak Karmal.

1985: Palestinian guerrillas opens fire inside the Rome and Vienna airports; 19 victims are killed, plus four attackers who are slain by police and security personnel.

VINDICATOR FILES

1985: The FOP bargaining committee is considering the latest wage offer by the Ungaro administration, which would give Youngstown patrolmen wage increases of 17 percent over three years.

The cost of living in Youngstown is 5.2 percent lower than the national average for 242 cities of all sizes.

1970: The Alcan Aluminum Corp., the U.S. unit of an international corporation, is setting up a new national office in Warren, another step in the transformation of the area from blue collar to white collar.

Gerald R. “Jeep” McDonald, membership director of the Youngstown YMCA, accepts the position of executive director of the San Fernando Valley YMCA. He will be succeeded by Robert A. Doyle.

1960: A clogged drain in the sixth floor cell block of the Mahoning County jail and administration building causes flooding throughout the building. Sheriff Paul Langley, County Commissioner Thomas Carney and six custodians swab up the mess.

George Ellis, 57, a Democratic member of the Board of Elections and former state representative, dies in St. Elizabeth Hospital after a long illness.

1935: State Examiner Walter Jones issues a report terming the administration of Youngstown’s financial affairs between August 1932 and August 1934 a “farce,” with more than $300,000 spent without receiving bids or paid to employees not authorized by city council.