Years Ago

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

Today is Friday, Sept. 17, the 260th day of 2010. There are 105 days left in the year. The Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, begins at sunset.

Associated Press

On this date in:

1787: The Constitution of the United States is completed and signed by a majority of delegates attending the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.

1862: In the bloodiest battle day in U.S. history, Union forces fight Confederate invaders in the Civil War Battle of Antietam in Maryland; more than 3,600 men are killed.

1920: The American Professional Football Association — a precursor of the National Football League — is formed in Canton, Ohio.

1944: During World War II, Allied paratroopers launch Operation Market Garden, landing behind German lines in the Netherlands. (After initial success, the Allies are beaten back by the Germans.)

1948: The United Nations mediator for Palestine, Count Folke Bernadotte, is assassinated in Jerusalem by Jewish extremists.

1959: Ground is broken for Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

1978: After meeting at Camp David, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat signed a framework for a peace treaty.

Vindicator files

1985: Danny Lee Hill, 18, and Tim Coombs, 17, are arrested for the rape and murder of a 12-year-old Warren boy, Raymond Fife. Funeral services for Raymond are held at Covenant United Presbyterian church.

The Springfield Local Board of Education hires Thomas Krispinsky as the district’s new treasurer at an annual salary of $25,000, replacing George Donnie, who is leaving to become Boardman’s treasurer.

The Cleveland Browns beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 17-7, in a Monday night game in Cleveland.

1970: The East Side Concerned Parents Organization calls a special meeting at the East Side Action Center to discuss what a spokesman called “a gambling problem” among some students at East High School. Two men say they came upon a group of 22 students drinking wine and shooting craps in a wooded area near the school before class.

The Mahoning National Bank opens its 16th branch in the Fifth Street Plaza in Struthers.

A 6-foot boa constrictor escapes from its box while being driven home by its new owner, Charles Smith of Boardman, starting an 18-hour ordeal during which Smith’s 1963 Cadillac convertible is virtually disassembled. Finally, a rocker panel below the door is chiseled open and the snake is extracted after being stunned with a shot of mace by a Boardman policeman.

1960: Registered cars in Youngstown drop from 75,670 to 70,236, meaning the city will receive less in state gasoline tax distributions in November.

Eleven heavily armed Sharon and state policemen surprise six men burglarizing the Shontz & Myers men’s clothing store downtown, nabbing four of the burglars. Two men on lookout fled.

1935:Mayor Mark Moore says the first slot machine put into operation in Youngstown will be seized, despite a court ruling that the machines are legal. The machines may be legal, Moore says, but when they’re used for gambling they become illegal.

Blaine Fairless, 22-year-old son of Ben F. Fairless, former Republic Steel executive, is improving in Warren City Hospital after being injured in a collision between his car and a truck near Diamond.

Returning to Youngstown to speak at the convention of the American Lutheran Church at Martin Luther Church, the Rev. C. M. Sitler, former pastor of Faith Lutheran Church, tells of traveling 25,000 miles on sea and 10,000 miles on land as a chaplain in the U.S. navy.