Years Ago

Today is Saturday, Feb. 13, the 44th day of 2010. There are 321 days left in the year. On this date in 1635, Boston Latin School, the United States’ oldest secondary school, is founded.

In 1914, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, known as ASCAP, is founded in New York City. In 1920, the League of Nations recognizes Switzerland’s neutrality. In 1945, allied forces capture Budapest, Hungary, in World War II. U.S. warplanes firebomb Dresden, Germany, wiping out the city and killing more than 35,000 civilians. In 1960, France explodes its first atomic bomb. In 1961, the U.N. Security Council urges use of force to prevent civil war in the Congo. In 1968, 10,000 U.S. troops are in process of being transported to South Vietnam on speedup basis as fighting increases in that country. In 1975, Turkish Cypriots proclaim separate administration in Turkish-occupied northern part of Cyprus. In 1976, Nigerian junta leader General Murtala Ramat Muhammad is assassinated in a coup attempt. In 1989, the Soviet Red Army leaves Afghan capital of Kabul.

February 13, 1985: U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr., D-17th, calls on area businessmen to help arrange a meeting with General Motors Corp. executives who are involved in the $5 billion Saturn project.

The Youngstown area gets a reprieve from winter storms that have forced snow emergencies in at least 45 of Ohio’s 88 counties.

Teachers at eight elementary schools in the Youngstown Diocese vote to affiliate with a union, the Youngstown Diocesan Confederation of Teachers while those at six schools say no. The dioceses is not bound by the National Labor Relations Act to recognize the union, but diocesan officials say the church supports the right of workers to unionize.

February 13, 1970: Struthers Superintendent of Schools Lee S. Ellsworth surprises the board of education with an announcement that he will leave at the end of his three-year contract July 31.

A Vietnam veteran is arrested at his Greenville, Pa., home and charged with possession of $12,000 worth of marijuana, three months after returning home.

Margaret V. Phillipson, a teacher at Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown, is killed in a collision near her home as she was driving home to New Castle. Two sons, students at Mooney, were injured.

February 13, 1960: Youngstown Hospital needs an endowment of at least $3 million to put it on a solid financial bases, President William J. Hitchcock of the hospital board told the institution’s trustees at their annual meeting at North Side Hospital. The hospital ended the year with a $300,000 deficit and many unpaid bills.

A 15-member human relations council, headed by Frank Trainor, subdirector of USW District 26, is named by Mayor Frank R. Franko.

Betty Fabry of Lowellville is chosen the 1960 Interfraternity Council Sweetheart at Youngstown University. She is a member of Beta Sigma Omicron Sorority.

February 13, 1935: Twelve men are lost and 81 saved as the giant airship, the Macon, crashes in the Pacific Ocean. One of the survivors, Lt. Commander Calvin M. Bolster of Ravenna is the brother of Dr. S.K. Bolster of Youngstown and is well known here.

A little plume of smoke over No. 3 open hearth furnace stack at the Brier Hill plant of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. announces that the plant is again making steel after being idle for four years.

The first day of the Youngstown Auto Show at Stambaugh Auditorium draws a record crowd of 2,200. Admission is 25 cents and the five-day show is expected to attract as many as 14,000.