Years Ago

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 20, the 354th day of 2011. There are 11 days left in the year. The Jewish Festival of Lights, Hanukkah, begins at sunset.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1790: The first successful cotton mill in the United States begins operating at Pawtucket, R.I.

1803: The Louisiana Purchase is completed as ownership of the territory is formally transferred from France to the United States.

1945: The Office of Price Administration announces the end of tire rationing, effective Jan. 1, 1946.

1961: Playwright-director Moss Hart, 57, dies in Palm Springs, Calif.

1989: The United States launches Operation Just Cause, sending troops into Panama to topple the government of Gen. Manuel Noriega.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Mahoning County Sheriff Edward P. Nemeth says his staff is severely undermanned and cannot adequately man the jail, deliver court papers and patrol outlying areas. He asks that his budget be increased from $1.3 million to $3.6 million and his staff increased from 58 to 213.

Youngstown firefighters approve a three-year contract with the city that will give them a 6 percent increase in each of the next three years, but rejects a fact-finder’s recommendation that $415 in cash paid toward uniforms be replaced with a voucher system that would provide uniforms and safety gear.

1971: A mother and daughter are surprised in a garage at the rear of their W. LaClede Avenue home, tied up, terrorized and robbed of more than $100 by two armed men who said they needed money for narcotics.

Ohio lawmakers approve a 3 cent increase in taxes on a pack of cigarettes, bringing the state tax to 15 cents a pack.

1961: The Mahoning County grand jury indicts five Mahoning County jail prisoners and the woman who smuggled them a hacksaw blade on charges of escape. A sixth prisoner who turned states evidence was not indicted.

U.S. Sen. William Proxmire of Wisconsin tells some 350 people at Ohev Tzedek Temple that nothing helps the cause of freedom more than the program of aid which Israel carries on in underdeveloped African and Asian countries.

1936: Ten-year-old Raymond Fisher exclaimed, “Gee, Mommy, I like you,” before leaving the kitchen to go sledding; Just minutes later he was fatally injured after his borrowed sled slid into Wick Avenue and under a passing car.