Years Ago

Today is Sunday, Aug. 7, the 219th day of 2011. There are 146 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1782: Gen. George Washington creates the Order of the Purple Heart, a decoration to recognize merit in enlisted men and non-commissioned officers.

1882: The famous feud between the Hatfields of West Virginia and the McCoys of Kentucky erupts into full-scale violence.

1942: U.S. and allied forces land at Guadalcanal, marking the start of the first major allied offensive in the Pacific during World War II.

1947: The balsa wood raft Kon-Tiki, which had carried a six-man crew 4,300 miles across the Pacific Ocean, crashes on a reef in a Polynesian archipelago; all six crew members reach land safely.

1964: Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, giving President Lyndon B. Johnson broad powers in dealing with reported North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. forces.

1971: The Apollo 15 moon mission ends successfully as its command module splashes down in the Pacific Ocean.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Phar-Mor Discounts, a pharmacy chain owned by the Tamarkin Co., expresses an interest in locating its corporate headquarters in the now-empty Strouss-Kaufmann building in downtown Youngstown.

The LTV Corp., which has entered voluntary bankruptcy, announces that it will idle its operations at Brier Hill in Youngstown and on Wilson Avenue in Campbell.

Howland Township officials respond to resident complaints by putting a stop to the dumping of sludge from the Mosquito Creek sewage treatment plant in a pit near a Howland Springs neighborhood.

1971: Mahoning County commissioners receive only one bid of $85,000 for 81 acres of old county home property within Canfield Village and may turn it down as being insufficient. The property was appraised at $135,000.

The Mass Transit Authority will eliminate bus service to Warren, Poland and Liberty and will stop night service from Central Square under a new schedule.

1961: Mahoning County commissioners want a separate contract with U.S. Army Engineers on the West Branch Reservoir project, excluding Trumbull County.

Municipal Judge Forrest J. Cavalier files a request for a declaratory judgment in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court seeking to retain William R. Durkin, instead of the newly appointed Robert Maro, as his courtroom bailiff.

The first drowning of the season at Lake Milton takes the life of Roy Nicholson, 21, of Youngstown.

1936: The Vindicator and Telegram’s nine dancers and their five chaperones arrive in Cleveland for the Great Lakes Exposition dance contest. They won the district finals at the Nu-Elms Ballroom.

Dr. W.W. Ryall, Youngstown health commissioner, declares that unless immediate action is taken to round up homeless dogs, a rabies epidemic is liable to break out. County Commissioner George Gluck says there are no funds for additional dog wardens.

Five WPA artists are painting five murals in the arches of the auditorium in Youngstown’s Cleveland School.