Years Ago

Today is Saturday, Jan. 9, the ninth day of 2010. There are 356 days left in the year. On this date in 1945, U.S. forces invade Luzon in the Philippines in World War II.

In 1962, the Soviet Union and Cuba sign a trade pact. In 1964, anti-U.S. rioting breaks out in the Panama Canal Zone, resulting in the deaths of 21 Panamanians and three U.S. soldiers. In 1965, an estimated 500 people suspected of being rebels are executed by Congo government forces in Stanleyville in six weeks since city was retaken. In 1970, France agrees to sell Mirage military jets to revolutionary regime in Libya. In 1973, the white-ruled country of Rhodesia closes its borders with Zambia to try to cut off black liberation forces. In 1977, Palestinian nationalist, Abou Daoud, suspected of having planned attacks on Israeli athletes at 1972 Olympic games in Munich, is arrested in Paris by French intelligence agents.

January 9, 1985: Roger Smith, chairman of General Motors, unveils the company’s newest addition, the Saturn, the first new GM subsidiary since 1918, which is scheduled for production in the late 1980s.

Mahoning County Sheriff Edward Nemeth is seeking a special audit of the sheriff’s department after taking over from James A. Traficant Jr. amid reports of alleged missing equipment and possible misuse of funds.

January 9, 1970: Flames destroy an unoccupied 24-unit apartment building at Washington Square in Austintown. The loss of the nearly complete building is estimated at $480,000.

Record cold strikes the Youngstown area closing eight school districts. The mercury at the Youngstown Municipal Airport fell to 7 below zero.

January 9, 1960: The all-night search by 400 volunteers for a lost 3-year-old Vernon Township boy in Northern Trumbull County has a happy ending as Little Randy Moy is found wondering in a brier patch at 8:30 a.m. He had wandered away from his home 17 hours earlier; temperatures dropped to below 20 degrees overnight.

Merl Miller, 43, saves his two young sons, Norman and Carl, from their burning Bazetta Township home, but all are in Trumbull Memorial Hospital with severe burns. Nine other members of the family fled to safety after an overheated furnace sparked the fire.

January 9, 1935: The state liquor control board in Columbus announces suspension of the night club permit issued to Nicholas Ricci for the Carioca Gardens at 2311 Niles Road, Warren, for selling liquor on Sunday and for possession of gambling devices.

Steel output in the Youngstown district rises two points to 56 percent of capacity and the area is looking at the largest pay for area workers since July.