Years Ago

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 20, the 20th day of 2010. There are 345 days left in the year. On this date in 2009, Barack Obama is sworn in as the nation’s 44th, as well as first African-American, president.

In 1801, Secretary of State John Marshall is nominated by President John Adams to be chief justice of the United States (he is sworn in on Feb. 4, 1801). In 1841, the island of Hong Kong is ceded by China to Great Britain. (It returns to Chinese control in July 1997.) In 1887, the U.S. Senate approves an agreement to lease Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as a naval base. In 1936, Britain’s King George V dies; he is succeeded by Edward VIII. In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the first chief executive to be inaugurated on Jan. 20 instead of March 4. In 1949, President Harry S. Truman is sworn in for a second term of office.

January 20, 1985: Manfred Guhl, managing director of Kosmos Export, says from his office in Hamburg, West Germany, that if everything continues as it has, construction will begin in the spring on a $32.8 million Ronneburg Brewery on 12 acres in the Youngstown Commerce Park.

The Sharon Tube Co. will locate its new electric-welded tubular operation in Bolt Industries Park on Hunter Street in Weathersfield Township, just outside Niles.

Former Congressman Lyle Williams has been hired as a $190-per-day consultant by the U.S. Labor Department to draft a national policy that deals with plant closings.

January 20, 1970: The Mahoning Valley Vocational School graduates 11 students and will be kept open on a standby basis through June in the the hope that federal and state education funds will allow it to be reactivated.

Dr. Philip Giber, Trumbull County deputy coroner, rules that the death of a 15-year-old Austintown girl in North Side Hospital was the result of a brain concussion suffered while sledding in Mill Creek Park Dec. 28.

John B. Sutherland, manger of General Motors Corp.’s Fisher Body Division stamping plant at Lordstown, is named manager of GM’s Lordstown Plant City Committee, which is responsible for coordinating GM’s community relations activities in the Mahoning Valley.

January 20, 1960: Youngstown City Council refers to the Planning Commission a request from the Strouss-Hirshberg Co. that it be given air rights over Commerce Street between Wick Aveue and Phelps Street for construction of a large open-deck parking structure.

Absenteeism is spreading in the Youngstown district as a type of flu begins to take its toll, though physicians say none of the cases has yet been diagnosed as Asian flu.

John J. Angelo tops all candidates in the race to head Teamsters Union Local 377 in Youngstown.

January 20, 1935: Two important airlines say they will provide service to Youngstown as soon as the city has an airport that will accommodate large high-speed planes safely.

Youngstown Junior Chamber of Commerce members are launching a last-minute drive to sell 3,050 Youngstown Symphony series tickets before the first concert Feb. 3. More than 500 tickets have been sold.