Years Ago

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 9, the 40th day of 2011. There are 325 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1825: The House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams president after no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes.

1861: Jefferson Davis is elected provisional president of the Confederate States of America at a congress held in Montgomery, Ala. (He is inaugurated Feb. 18.)

1870: The U.S. Weather Bureau is established.

1943: The World War II battle of Guadalcanal in the southwest Pacific ends with an Allied victory over Japanese forces.

1961: The Beatles (with Stu Sutcliffe and Pete Best) first perform at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, England.

The crew of Apollo 14 returns to Earth after man’s third landing on the moon.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Nearly 13 years after the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. first sought a federal permit to build the Perry Nuclear Power Plant on the Lake Erie shoreline, company officials say the $5.4 billion project is ready for its start-up.

Abdullah R. Bouhabib, Lebanon’s ambassador to the United States, speaks at the 75th anniversary of St. Maron Church in Youngstown. Bouhabib, a Maronite Christian, says Lebanon will not find peace as long as its neighbors, Syria and Israel, vie for control of Lebanese territory.

1971: Nine inches of snow and drifts of 3 feet, high winds and temperatures below zero clog roads, close most area schools and cause absenteeism at some businesses.

Wean United Inc. will close United Engineering & Foundry Co.’s Hezlep Street plant in Youngstown.

1961: Fire of undetermined origin breaks out in the Old Boardman Town Hall at 7354 Market Street Ext., causing $10,000 in damage. Two oil paints of horses valued at $4,000 were destroyed in the office of Lee Ickes, publisher of “The Horseman,” which has been using the building.

Youngstown should be able to build its $5.5 million sewage disposal plant by fall, even if the plans need changing, says City Engineer J. Phillip Richley.

1936: Albert Leigh, 58, miraculously escapes with only minor injuries after being buried by a load of coal at Wester Coal Co. Leigh was knocked into a coal bin when the door on a tipple opened from the weight of the coal when he touched the release lever.

Andrew Walters, a truck driver for Shagrin-Roseman tobacco company, is reported abducted by two men after making a delivery. Walters was released by the men, who are believed to have been union organizers. The company is releasing no details.