Years Ago

February 8, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Monday, Feb. 8, the 39th day of 2010. There are 326 days left in the year. On this date in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America is incorporated.

In 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots is beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle in England after she is implicated in a plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. In 1837, the Senate selects the vice president of the United States, choosing Richard Mentor Johnson after no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes. In 1924, the first execution by gas in the United States takes place at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City as Gee Jon, a Chinese immigrant convicted of murder, is put to death. In 1960, work begins on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles. In 1968, three college students are killed in a confrontation with highway patrolmen in Orangeburg, S.C. during a civil rights protest against a whites-only bowling alley. In 1978, the deliberations of the Senate are broadcast on radio for the first time as members open debate on the Panama Canal treaties. In 1989, 144 people are killed when an American-chartered Boeing 707 filled with Italian tourists slams into a fog-covered mountain in the Azores.

February 8, 1985: A two-year investigation by Warren’s Narcotic Division results in the arrest of a “key figure” in a Mahoning Valley drug operation and results in the confiscation of cocaine valued at $1 million.

A Minneapolis-based steel company, North Star Steel Co., proposes purchasing the Hunt Steel Co. mini-mill on W. Federal Street for $22,5 million.

February 8, 1970: Marilyn Kuhar of Youngstown is crowned Ohio’s Junior Miss at the conclusion of a two-day pageant in Middletown.

Ravenna Mayor George Beck says he will invoke the state’s Ferguson Act, which will lead to the firing of 11 police officers who have been on a 12-day sick-out.

Curtis Barton, chief meteorologist at the Youngstown Municipal Airport weather station and weather service specialist Joe Vazzo are among weathermen across the nation marking the 100th anniversary of the U.S. Weather Bureau.

February 8, 1960: A speeding motorist leads Patrolman Donald Ruse on a wild high-speed chase through the city, running 11 red lights and reaching speeds of 90 mph. The suspect abandons his car and runs into a Bettman Street house, where Ruse finds him hiding in a closet.

The Youngstown health commissioner is given authority to order examinations for tuberculosis suspects in a new set of rules approved by the City Board of Health.

February 8, 1935: Councilman M.J. Kirwan, testifying in the deposition hearing in Locke Miller’s suit to overturn the re-election of U.S. Rep. John Cooper, says the board of elections used “rotten judgment” in permitting presiding judges to take ballots to the board offices alone.

The Department of Justice brings anti-trust proceedings against 16 steel corporations with assets aggregating $1.3 billion. One suit seeks an injunction barring a proposed merger of Republic Steel Corp. and Corrigan, McKinney Steel Co. The other charges that seven individuals have interlocking directorships among 10 competing steel companies, including Youngstown Sheet & Tube. Co.

Bishop P. James of Youngstown is presented with a jeweled ring in recognition of10 years of driving an interurban bus for the Penn-Ohio Coach Lines without a chargeable accident.