Years Ago

Today is Saturday, Dec. 17, the 351st day of 2011. There are 14 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1777: France recognizes American independence.

1830: South American patriot Simon Boivar dies in Colombia.

1903: Wilbur and Orville Wright of Dayton, Ohio, conduct the first successful manned powered-airplane flights near Kitty Hawk, N.C., using their experimental craft, the Wright Flyer.

1939: The German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled by its crew, ending the World War II Battle of the River Plate off Uruguay.

1957: The United States successfully test-fires the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time.

1961: An arson fire at a circus in Niteroi, Brazil, kills 323 people.

1975: Lynette Fromme is sentenced in Sacramento, Calif., to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President Gerald R. Ford. (She is paroled in August 2009.)

1981: Members of the Red Brigades kidnap Brig. Gen. James L. Dozier, the highest-ranking U.S. Army official in southern Europe, from his home in Verona, Italy. (Dozier is rescued 42 days later.)

1986: Eugene Hasenfus, the American convicted by Nicaragua for his part in running guns to the Contras, is pardoned, then released.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: The separation of Canfield city from the township will be one of the options considered by an ad hoc committee appointed to review the city’s finances.

The FBI says the arrest of 13 men in and around Youngstown has broken up a multimillion-dollar cocaine ring that operated in a five-county area.

Retailers and courts are reporting an increase in shoplifting during the Christmas shopping season, with some courts reporting a doubling in shoplifting arrests since Thanksgiving.

James M. Dawson, consulting economist to National City Corp, tells a Youngstown Area Chamber of Commerce Early Bird Breakfast that he sees the economy reaching an all-time high over the next two years.

1971: The Youngstown Area Community Action Council says banks are refusing to cash welfare checks unless clients have accounts. It says county commissioners, who are ultimately responsible for issuing the checks, should step in.

Youngstown State University which draws 15 percent of its student body from out of state, will lose $800,000 in state subsidies in the coming year because Ohio will no longer pay subsidies for out-of-state students.

The parents of children enrolled in parochial schools in Ohio will receive $90 per pupil in parental reimbursement under a two-year tax and budget measure approved by the Ohio General Assembly.

1961: Youngstown’s South Side arsonist strikes at five places in the Uptown area, causing damage totaling at least $2,000. Police are looking for a youthful firebug.

Freezing rain glazes Youngstown district streets and highways, causing 13 accidents involving 40 vehicles in a two-hour period.

1936: Youngstown finance director Frank W. Barton says the city will lose about $112,000 a year due to the repeal of the sales tax on food items.

Youngstown taxpayers will pay the same 18-mill property tax rate in 1937, but because of an $8 million decrease in property values, the city and its schools will see $140,000 less in income.

The Youngstown Municipal Railway Co. sells 18,722 weekly street car and bus passes, an all-time record.