YEARS AGO

February 21, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Sunday, Feb. 21, the 52nd day of 2010. There are 313 days left in the year. On this date in 1885, the Washington Monument is dedicated.

In 1846, Sarah G. Bagley becomes the first female telegrapher as she takes charge at the newly opened telegraph office in Lowell, Mass. In 1866, Lucy B. Hobbs becomes the first woman to graduate from a dental school, the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in Cincinnati. In 1965, black Muslim leader and civil rights activist Malcolm X, 39, is shot to death inside the Audubon Ballroom in New York. In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon begins his historic visit to China as he and his wife, Pat, arrive in Beijing. In 1973, Israeli fighter planes shoot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 over the Sinai Desert, killing all but five of the 113 people on board. In 1990, pop duo Milli Vanilli wins Best New Artist at the 32nd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. (However, Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan are stripped of the award in December 1990 after it is revealed that neither of them actually sang on the “Girl You Know It’s True” album.) In 1992, Kristi Yamaguchi of the United States wins the gold medal in ladies’ figure skating at the Albertville Olympics; Midori Ito of Japan wins the silver, Nancy Kerrigan of the U.S. the bronze. In 1995, Chicago adventurer Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon, landing in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada.

February 21, 1985: Lawrence Garono, owner of Garono Vending of Hubbard, files suit in Mahoning County seeking to bar police from confiscating his poker machines, which he says are legal devices.

A bill that is introduced in the Ohio House by Maumee Republican John Galbraith that would pay welfare mothers under 30 years old $3,000 to undergo voluntary sterilization is assailed as unconstitutional by the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.

February 21, 1970: Youngstown Police Chief Donald Baker says there will be additional patrols around South High Field House after a department store executive, a Canfield physician and a British exchange student are beaten by gangs of toughs following the first night of a basketball tournament at the field house.

Acting on an anonymous tip, Lt. William Miller of the Trumbull County Sheriff’s office goes to a dump where he finds a package containing Social Security checks valued at more than $54,000 that had been stolen in a burglary at the Masury Post Office.

General Motors Corp. says 3,975 workers will be laid off in Ohio, but none at the Lordstown complex.

February 21, 1960: U.S. Rep. Michael J. Kirwan, a Catholic who quit school in the third grade, will be awarded an honorary doctorate degree by a Methodist university, Oklahoma City University. The Youngstown legislator is being honored for “long and distinguished efforts to better the lot of Americans.”

A 1,000 pound safe containing an undetermined amount of cash is taken from the Isaly Dairy Store in the McGuffey Plaza.

Mayor Frank R. Franko says a 7 percent general wage increase recommended for Youngstown municipal workers would put rank and file employees in line with their counterparts at other major Ohio cities. A police sergeant, for instance would see his pay increase from $5,554 to $5,943.

February 21, 1935: Youngstown’s Federal Savings and Loan Co. is granted a federal charter under the law creating nationally supervised mortgage associations whose deposits are insured to $5,000, such as are those at banks.

City zoning engineer Fred C. Medicus puts the Youngstown City School District under notice that it should eliminate portable classrooms that are in use at many public schools.

U.S. Steel Corp. announces a $47 million plant modernization program that will cover five years.