Years ago

February 4, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Thursday, Feb. 4, the 35th day of 2010. There are 330 days left in the year. On this date in 1783, Britain’s King George III proclaims a formal cessation of hostilities in the American Revolutionary War.

In 1789, electors choose George Washington to be the first president of the United States. In 1861, delegates from six Southern states meet in Montgomery, Ala., to form the Confederate States of America. In 1932, New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt opens the Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid. In 1941, the United Service Organizations (USO) comes into existence. In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin begin a wartime conference at Yalta. In 1948, the island nation of Ceylon — now Sri Lanka — becomes an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth. In 1974, newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst is kidnapped in Berkeley, Calif., by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

February 4, 1985: Responding to the closing of the McKelvey Parkade, the Youngstown Board of Trade announces free shuttle service from downtown parking lots to the Edward W. Powers Auditorium for the three lectures remaining in the Junior League season.

About 400 people, including labor union members and governmental officials, gather at the Mahoning Country Club to hear a report from Task Force Saturn on its effort to lure a new General Motors plant to the Mahoning Valley.

Day-care licensing laws in Ohio allow the least supervision of children of any industrial state, according to a study by the Ohio Children’s Defense Fund.

February 4, 1970: A plan to consolidate four Wean United Inc. companies into a single firm and move the headquarters for the group to Henricks Road, is announced by R.J. Wean Jr., Wean United president and chief executive officer.

Several S. Phelps Street business buildings are endangered when an early morning two-alarm fire burns out the Argos Restaurant at 29 S. Phelps.

The Youngstown Education Association distributes 1,200 questionnaires to certificated personnel asking every teacher and administrator what their salary aspirations are.

Gunmen rob two Chianese-owned service stations, one a Sunoco and one a Sohio, in Oak Street within a 10 minute period, escaping with more than $400.

February 4, 1960: Reacting to a move by Police Chief Peter Venorsky to split towing work between two companies, Passarelli Bros. Automotive says it will no longer take police calls. Ironically, the move will maintain a towing monopoly in the city, with all the work going to Riley Bros.

Safe-crackers escape with $145,000 in cash and checks from a large safe on the second floor of Blue Ribbon Grill at 15 E. Federal St. A week earlier, yeggs got $1,600 in cash and $24,000 in checks after burning open a safe at the Buick Youngstown Co. on Wick Avenue.

Egg prices are on the skids in the Youngstown area, with wholesale prices for large eggs dropping to 27 cents a dozen. The price is the same in Cincinnati, which is a 20-year low for that city.

February 4, 1935: The audience and critics respond enthusiastically to the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, playing under Conductor Ficocelli, in the opening concert of its series at Stambaugh Auditorium.

Federal Judge Samuel West in Cleveland dismisses charges against Vincent Chianese, accused of participating in a plot to defraud a Youngstown insurance company.

Five Youngstown men are among 135 who passed the state bar examination, which was taken by 175. They are Ray Bolinger, Louis Jay Goldblatt, Isadore Kretzer, Nathan Schwebel and Samuel David Ungar, who got the second highest grade of 88.7.

The Rt. Rev. Thomas H. Cashmore, Anglican lord bishop of Dunwich, England, calls on Rotary Club members to do their full share to combat materialism during a luncheon meeting at the Hotel Pick-Ohio.