Years Ago

Today is Friday, Feb. 11, the 42nd day of 2011. There are 323 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1812: Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry signs a re-districting law favoring his party — giving rise to the term “gerrymandering.”

1858: A French girl, Bernadette Soubirous, reports the first of 18 visions of a lady dressed in white in a grotto near Lourdes. (The Catholic Church later accepts that the visions were of the Virgin Mary.)

1861: President-elect Abraham Lincoln bids farewell to his adopted hometown of Springfield, Ill., as he heads to Washington for his inauguration. The same day, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously adopts a resolution guaranteeing non-interference with slavery in any state.

1929: The Lateran Treaty is signed, with Italy recognizing the independence and sovereignty of Vatican City.

1937: A six-week-old sit-down strike against General Motors ends, with the company agreeing to recognize the United Automobile Workers Union.

1945: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin sign the Yalta Agreement during World War II.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: The Adult Services Workshop for adults operated by the Board of Mental Retardation and Disabilities on Bev Road is closed indefinitely because of fire.

Five people representing community groups call on the Youngstown Board of Education to rename a facility in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

1971: Daniel V. Brott, president of Teamsters Local 377, is among 12 witnesses appearing in Cleveland before a federal grand jury investigating organized crime in Ohio.

Rep. Charles V. Carney of Youngstown meets with Transportation Secretary John Volpe in Washington to arrange a mass transit seminar that will be held at the Holiday Inn in Niles.

1961: A brash gunman sticks up Cochran’s Sparkle Market at 3703 South Ave., escaping with a busy day’s receipts of $4,000.

A 38-year-old Herbert Road man is sentenced to nine months in jail for causing an accident in Route 18 that killed Sister Mary George, principal of Immaculate Heart of Mary School, and injured another nun and the woman driving the car in which they were riding.

1936: The House Elections Commission votes unanimously that Congressman John Cooper of Youngstown was properly elected and is entitled to represent the 19th District. Cooper’s election was challenged by Clarence Locke Miller.

Niles police say they have obtained confessions from three men to clear up recent store stick-ups.

John C. Pappas of Detroit, former Warren gambler, is found shot to death in a ditch near Churchill. He had been shot five times.