Years Ago

Today is Friday, Dec. 30, the 364th day of 2011. There is one day left in the year.

Associated Press

On this date in:

1860: Ten days after South Carolina seceded from the Union, the state militia seizes the U.S. Arsenal in Charleston.

1903: About 600 people die when fire breaks out at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago.

1922: Vladimir I. Lenin proclaims the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

1936: The United Auto Workers union stages its first “sit-down” strike at the General Motors Fisher Body Plant in Flint, Mich. (The strike lasted until Feb. 11, 1937.)

1940: California’s first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena, is officially opened by Gov. Culbert L. Olson.

1948: “Kiss Me, Kate” opens on Broadway.

1965: Ferdinand Marcos is inaugurated for his first term as president of the Philippines.

1972: The United States halts its heavy bombing of North Vietnam.

1994: A gunman walks into a pair of suburban Boston abortion clinics and opens fire, killing two employees. (

2006: Iraqis awake to news that Saddam Hussein had been hanged.

Vindicator files

1986: Mahoning County commissioners say a projected $2 million deficit in 1987 means there will have to be layoffs.

Unions representing safety forces in Youngstown say they will go to court to block Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro’s plan to enforce the city’s residency law with dismissals.

The State Theater on Federal Plaza West has undergone a $40,000 renovation and will reopen as the Star Palace.

1971: Charles G. Watson, of Canfield, industrial and civic leader, dies of a stroke at 80.

Youngstown State’s Penguins roll past Western Illinois, 91-51, for their seventh straight victory.

Sandy J. Lapushansky of S. Meridian Road, a student at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, is one of 10 national winners in the “Young America Creates” contest sponsored by Glamour magazine.

1961: For the second time in a month, Mayor Frank R. Franko vetoes an ordinance allowing Linde Air Co. to install liquid oxygen lines under Poland Avenue to supply oxygen to Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. open hearths.

Youngstown’s new police chief, William R. Golden, announces reassignment of the old morals and vice squads saying all captains will be responsible for seeing to it that their officers attack vice in the city.

The Youngstown district’s major industries will celebrate the arrival of 1962 with a jump to 71 percent of steel capacity, the highest level in two years.

Mrs. Elizabeth Hamilton Alderdice, 52, a teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School and the Rayen School from 1928 to 1938, dies of a stroke.

1936: Cyrus Folsom, retired veteran druggist known to hundreds of Youngstowners, and the city’s oldest auto driver, dies at 94 after a fall that broke his hip.

Sheriff Ralph Elser says he has not confiscated any of the slot machines that were installed in Youngstown and Mahoning County during the holidays, but he is confident that none continue to operate.

Youngstown Traffic commissioner Clarence W. Coppersmith warns that extra police will be on duty to make sure that New Year’s Eve is a safe celebration.