Years Ago

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 13, the 13th day of 2010. There are 352 days left in the year. On this date in 1794, President George Washington approves a measure adding two stars and two stripes to the American flag, following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the union. (The number of stripes is later reduced to the original 13.)

In 1733, James Oglethorpe and some 120 English colonists arrive at Charleston, S.C., while en route to settle in present-day Georgia. In 1864, composer Stephen Foster dies in New York at age 37. In 1898, Emile Zola’s famous defense of Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, “J’accuse,” is published in Paris. In 1910, opera is experimentally broadcast on radio for the first time as Lee De Forest transmits a performance of “Cavalleria Rusticana” and “Pagliacci” from the stage of New York’s Metropolitan Opera. In 1945, during World War II, Soviet forces begin a huge, successful offensive against the Germans in Eastern Europe. In 1962, comedian Ernie Kovacs dies in a car crash in west Los Angeles 10 days before his 43rd birthday. In 1966, Robert C. Weaver is named Secretary of Housing and Urban Development by President Lyndon B. Johnson; Weaver becomes the first black Cabinet member. In 1978, former Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey dies in Waverly, Minn., at age 66.

January 13, 1985: Clarence Tol-liver, a veteran bailiff in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, is appointed the county’s jury commissioner.

The Mahoning County recorder’s office has installed computers and word processors to record all deeds, certificates of transfers, mortgages, leases and other transactions.

Youngstown’s Harry Arroyo retains his IBF lightweight title with a TKO over Terrence Alli in the 11th round of an Atlantic City bout.

January 13, 1970: Warren City Council President Art Richards, reacting to a suggestion by Howland Township Trustee Bruce Mateer that the city annex the entire township, responds that the door has always been open to that possibility.

Cherol Motors Co., 129 W. Rayen Ave., purchases two abutting lots and a building from Strouss department store for $200,000. Cherol says he will begin marketing American Motors’ new small car, the Gremlin, in about 60 days.

Advertisement: Red Barn restaurants announce an anti-inflation special, all beef hamburgers, 15 cents at its restaurants in Youngstown, Warren, Boardman, Hubbard, Austintown, Niles and Poland.

January 13, 1960: Three employee groups, police, fire and sanitary workers, ask Youngstown City Council for a pay increase of 12 percent, plus full hospitalization and a life insurance policy.

Lt. Frank Watters, assistant detective chief, is named by Police Chief Peter Venorsky to head Youngstown’s new morals and gambling squad.

Francis J. Witt, new member of the board of education, is promoted by Ditto Inc. as branch manager of its Minneapolis-St. Paul office, but says he will continue to serve on the school board while making a weekly commute from his Kiowa Road home to Minneapolis.

January 13, 1935: Dr. Wil-liam Hudnut and his son, The Rev. William H. Hudnut Jr., exchange pulpits for a day, with the senior Hudnut preaching at Glendale Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati and his son preaching at First Presbyterian Church in Youngstown.

Gov. George White commutes the sentence of Roy “Happy” Marino of Youngstown, serving 20 years for bank robbery, bringing to 51 the number of prisoners who have received clemency from White since Dec. 1.

The VFW Boys Band of Warren has been invited to play at the inaugural ceremonies for Gov.-elect Martin L. Davey in Columbus.