Years Ago

October 20, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Wednesday, Oct. 20, the 293rd day of 2010. There are 72 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1803: The U.S. Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase.

1903: A joint commission rules in favor of the United States in a boundary dispute between the District of Alaska and Canada.

1944: During World War II, Gen. Douglas MacArthur steps ashore at Leyte in the Philippines, 21/2 years after saying, “I shall return.”

1947: The House Un-American Activities Committee opens hearings into alleged Communist influence and infiltration in the U.S. motion picture industry.

1967: Seven men are convicted in Meridian, Miss., of violating the civil rights of three slain civil rights workers.

1973: In the so-called “Saturday Night Massacre,” special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox is dismissed and Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus resign.

VINDICATOR FILES

1985: Citizens Against Toxic Sites in New Castle is planning a trip to Harrisburg to protest the proposed landfill in North Beaver and Mahoning townships in Lawrence County.

Youngstown mayoral candidate Ronald P. Schroeder rejects the proposed federal building, state office building and steel museum, saying the long-term negative effects of those projects outweigh the short term construction jobs. Schroeder is challenging Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro.

1970: Robert Pegues Jr. is named assistant superintendent of Youngstown city schools, the highest position to which a black person has risen in the school district.

As Charles G. Cusick, special agent in charge of the Cleveland office of the FBI, was telling a special law enforcement conference at the Mahoning Country Club in Girard that bomb threats in the United States number 75 a day, Girard High School was forced to evacuate because of a bomb scare.

1960: Top Republic Steel Corp. officials, including Thomas F. Patton, president, Charles M. White, board chairman, and Richard Armitage, a senior assistant Warren District manager, tour Republic’s new 56-inch hot strip mill under construction in Warren.

Youngstown City Council passes a resolution asking President Eisenhower to declare Youngstown “a major hardship area,” increase federal spending in the area and extend unemployment benefits.

1935: “Jiggs” Wolford, star guard on the Grove City High School football team, collapses and dies after running 70 yards of interference for a half-back who intercepted a Sharon pass and ran it back for a touchdown. Wolford was taken to the hospital and play resumed. Sharon won, 7-6.

Speaking at Youngstown Post 15 of the American Legion in Youngstown, Milt D. Campbell of Cincinnati, commander of the Ohio Legion, says a universal draft and preparedness is the best weapon to keep the United States out of war.

Elmer E. Martin of Warren is spared the electric chair when a Trumbull County jury finds him guilty of murder in the death of Charles Campbell in August 1934 but recommends mercy. He will spend life in prison.