Years Ago

February 9, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Tuesday, Feb. 9, the 40th day of 2010. There are 325 days left in the year. On this date in 1960, Adolph Coors Co. chairman Adolph Coors III, 44, is shot to death during a botched kidnapping attempt while on his way to the family brewery in Golden, Colo. (Coors’ body isn’t found for seven months. His killer, Joseph Corbett Jr., served 19 years in prison and committed suicide in August 2009.)

In 1825, the House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams president after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes. In 1861, Jefferson Davis is elected the provisional president of the Confederate States of America. In 1870, the U.S. Weather Bureau is established. In 1942, daylight-saving “War Time” goes into effect in the United States, with clocks turned one hour forward. In 1943, the World War II battle of Guadalcanal in the southwest Pacific ends with an Allied victory over Japanese forces. In 1950, in a speech in Wheeling, W.Va., Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., charges that the State Department is riddled with Communists. In 1971, the crew of Apollo 14 returns to Earth after man’s third landing on the moon. In 2002, Britain’s Princess Margaret, the high-spirited and unconventional sister of Queen Elizabeth II, dies in London at age 71.

February 9, 1985: Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker says the United States is borrowing 3 percent of its GNP from foreign interests, a pattern that risks long range economic collapse. Such borrowing spurs growth in the short run, but as Latin American countries have learned, when the turn comes, it comes quickly, he says.

Judge William G. Houser rules that Philip Ailiff, the customer wounded by police in a shootout at the Cosmic Dreams Lounge, cannot seek punitive damages against the city. Ailiff had sought $20 million in his suit, but the ruling cuts the maximum by half.

February 9, 1970: The Howland High School debate team, coached by Richard Reis, wins the sweepstakes trophy in the Youngstown Rotary Club tournament. Members are David Hyde, Ken Hess, Wendy Altern, Ann Bendig, Dave Lippy, David Vanhorn, Angie DeLucia and Doug Brobst.

Three Warren policemen plead guilty to petit larceny in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court and resign from the police force.

February 9, 1960: Republican National Chairman Thruston B. Morton, speaking at the 45th annual meeting of the McKinley Club at the McKinley Memorial in Niles, says, “Today the United States is strong militarily, economically and spiritually. There can be no more important mission for the Republican Party than to keep it that way.”

The 7th District Court of Appeals upholds the life sentence for 16-year-old Richard Harter of Cleveland, who pleaded guilty before Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge David G. Jenkins to the murder of a 61-year-old railroader in Youngstown.

February 9, 1935: John Malone, 16, is found guilty of murder in Cleveland by a jury that recommends clemency, life in prison rather than execution. Malone shot and killed a service station attendant during a robbery. His defense lawyer, Blase Buonpane, says Malone’s environment had been against him and society is responsible for his position.

Alleged acceptance of “hush money” by some Youngstown policemen will probably bring a “shake up” when Police Chief Leroy Goodwin returns from Florida. “Some of the boys have been going into business for themselves, and we can’t have that,” says Mayor Mark Moore.