Years Ago

Today is Thursday, Nov. 25, the 329th day of 2010. There are 36 days left in the year. This is Thanksgiving Day.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1783: The British evacuate New York, their last military position in the United States during the Revolutionary War.

1940: The cartoon character Woody Woodpecker makes his debut in the animated short “Knock Knock.”

1957: President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffers a slight stroke.

1960: Dominican Republic activists Patria, Minerva and Maria Mirabal, opponents of President Rafael Trujillo, are murdered.

1963: The body of President John F. Kennedy is laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery; his widow, first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, lights an “eternal flame” at the gravesite.

1980: Sugar Ray Leonard regains the World Boxing Council welterweight championship when Roberto Duran abruptly quits in the eighth round at the Louisiana Superdome.

1986: The Iran-Contra affair erupts as President Ronald Reagan and Attorney General Edwin Meese reveal that profits from secret arms sales to Iran had been diverted to Nicaraguan rebels.

2002: President George W. Bush signs legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security and appoints Tom Ridge to be its head.

VINDICATOR FILES

1985: Cleveland mob chief James T. Licavoli, who had been one of the most powerful racketeers in Youngstown and Trumbull County in the 1950s, dies of a heart attack while a federal prisoner in Wisconsin.

The Niles Area Chamber of Commerce officials are evaluating an Ohio Bell Telephone Co. proposal to provide Niles-Youngstown phone service at a 90 percent discount over regular toll rates.

Frank Kenley’s Warren Star Theater will return to the Packard Music Hall for four alternating weeks beginning June 24 with shows starring Robert Goulet, Donald O’Connor, Teresa Brewer and Frankie Laine with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, and Mitzi Gaynor.

Philadelphia quarterback Ron Jaworski leads the Philadelphia Eagles to a 34-17 win over the Dallas Cowboys.

1970: The September term of the Mahoning County grand jury reports on a record 141 criminal cases, including 34 that involve narcotics.

General Motors Corp.’s Packard Electric Division at Warren will resume normal operations, returning about 7,600 strike-idled employees to work.

Milt Morin, tight end for the Cleveland Browns, is principal speaker for the East Ohio Gas. Co. luncheon at the Mansion restaurant.

The National Car Rental System and Hertz Rent A Car will join Avis in providing automobile rentals at the Youngstown Municipal Airport.

1960: The State Highway Department suspends a right-of-way agent in an investigation of personal profiteering by employees in the right-of-way division in the selling of fixtures from houses lying in the path of the arterial highway department.

The city and Ohio Edison Co. move to speed installation of street lights in a dark section of Poland Avenue that claimed the city’s 13th traffic fatality Thanksgiving Eve.

More than 300 members and guests attended Thanksgiving Day worship service at Christ United Presbyterian Church.

1935: E.J. Webb’s Scottish Terrier wins the title of best dog at the Youngstown Junior League Dog Match at the Armory.

Miss Frances Whiteside of Youngstown, daughter of the late Atty. J. Nelson Whiteside and Mrs. Whiteside, is named one of the six most beautiful girls at Ohio State University. The 1931 graduate of South High School is a senior in physics.

Twenty-one average voters who used voting machines in Precinct E, Fifth Ward, during the recent election express unqualified approval of the machines and want them back next year.

A display of the National Amateur Photographic contest entries at the Youngstown YMCA brings the best snapshots in the nation to the city. The Vindicator is the local sponsor of the national contest.