Years Ago

June 17, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Thursday, June 17, the 168th day of 2010. There are 197 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1775: The Revolutionary War Battle of Bunker Hill takes place near Boston. It is a costly victory for the British, who suffer heavy losses while dislodging the rebels.

1885: The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor aboard the French ship Isere.

1928: Amelia Earhart embarks on a trans-Atlantic flight from Newfoundland to Wales with pilots Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon, becoming the first woman to make the trip as a passenger.

1930: President Herbert Hoover signs the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which boosts U.S. tariffs to historically high levels, prompting foreign retaliation.

1944: The republic of Iceland is established.

1957: Mob underboss Frank Scalice is shot to death at a produce market in the Bronx, N.Y.

1972: President Richard M. Nixon’s eventual downfall begins with the arrest of five burglars inside Democratic national headquarters in Washington, D.C.’s, Watergate complex.

1986: President Ronald Reagan announces the retirement of Chief Justice Warren Burger, who is succeeded by William Rehnquist.

VINDICATOR FILES

1985: A new type of aggregate approved by the state that was used in a $9.8 million resurfacing of I-80 and I-76 is blamed for deterioration of the new road in less than a year. The gravel has been found to crumble when exposed to salt and freezing and thawing.

Ohio Bell completes a $4.3 million electronic switching system that will serve 12,000 Boardman homes and businesses.

Dennis J. Kucinich says he will spend a lot of time campaigning in the Mahoning Valley in his run for the Democratic nomination for governor.

1970: Preliminary population figures for the 1970 U.S. Census show slight gains for Mahoning County but a drop of 26,786 in a decade for the city of Youngstown.

Neighbors testify during a contempt of court hearing against promoters of a May 17 rock concert in Newton Falls that concert goers “acted like they owned the whole county” and took over adjacent property.

1960: Youngstown’s three steel companies reject as “economically unfeasible” Smoke Control Engineer Walter I. Rauh’s demand for immediate installation of mechanical devices costing $42 million to trap metallic fumes discharged from open hearth furnaces.

Police are grilling a Cleveland underworld character picked up for suspicion in the $20,000 burglary at Idora Park. Atty. Eugene Fox is attempting to free him under a new Ohio law that requires police to file charges against him or release him.

Time limits on most downtown Youngstown parking meters are doubled from 30 minutes to an hour. Those near banks and utility offices will remain 30 minutes.

The Senate votes to repeal a loyalty oath from college students who receive loans or grants, substituting criminal penalties for any student who applies for aid while a member of a subversive organization.

1935: Charging the Mahoning County and state relief administrations with “gross unfairness” to the dental profession, 50 Youngstown dentists have cancelled their contracts and will refuse to do relief work until more equitable payment is established.

The Playground Association, a Community Fund agency, opens a Cypress Field on Cypress Street, which was developed from a trash-covered lot for and investment of just $400 and elbow grease. Playground equipment is on loan from Yale School.

Municipal Judge Henry Beckenbach denies that he refused to try persons arrested on gambling and liquor charges filed by Sheriff Ralph E. Elser, but says he did insist that those charged would have to be held in the city jail, not the county lockup, if he were to hear their cases.