Years Ago

Today is Sunday, Jan. 2, the second day of 2011. There are 363 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1788: Georgia becomes the fourth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1811: Sen. Timothy Pickering, a Federalist from Massachusetts, becomes the first member of the U.S. Senate to be censured (the offense is improperly revealing the contents of an executive document).

1900: Secretary of State John Hay announces the “Open Door Policy” to facilitate trade with China.

1921: Religious services are broadcast on radio for the first time as KDKA in Pittsburgh airs the regular Sunday service of the city’s Calvary Episcopal Church.

1935: Bruno Hauptmann goes on trial in Flemington, N.J., on charges of kidnapping and murdering the 20-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. (Hauptmann is found guilty, and executed.)

1942: The Philippine capital of Manila is captured by Japanese forces during World War II.

1960: Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts launches his successful bid for the presidency.

1991: Sharon Pratt (Dixon) is sworn in as mayor of Washington, D.C., becoming the first black woman to head a city of Washington’s size and prominence.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: The blue flu that struck Poland Village police and street department workers New Year’s Eve is short lived after Village Council held a New Year’s Day closed-door meeting with negotiators.

Edna D. Pincham assures herself a place in history as she assumes the post of administrative aide to Mayor Patrick Ungaro, the first woman and first black person named to the post.

Four Warren residents are reported dead after a New Year’s Day accident in state Route 700 south of Burton. Dead are Jeffrey Eakins, 25; his wife, Carolyn, 25; Rebecca Bowman, 23, and David Fennell, 23.

1971: Two young Youngs-town patrolmen, Dana Childers and Albert Mohr, escape injury when a Jones Street man fires a 16-gauge shotgun at them while they were investigating a ringing burglar alarm at the J.C. Penney Co. warehouse. The man was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon.

Youngstown area executives predict that by the end of 1971, steel and auto operations in the Youngstown district will be booming.

Jim Plunkett completes 20 passes for 285 yards to lead Stanford to a 27-17 Rose Bowl victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes and quarterback Rex Kern.

1961: Youngstown’s first New Year’s Day baby is a girl born to Mrs. Ann Simms, the second girl among nine children in the Simms family.

James C. Hagerty, President Eisenhower’s press secretary, responds to a report in a Castro-controlled newspaper that U.S. Marines are planning an invasion of Cuba by snorting, “Nuts.”

Karl J. Soller, 67, retired Youngstown teacher, high school principal, basketball and football coach, who played both sports at Rayen School and Hiram College, dies in North Side Hospital.

1936: The new year in the Youngstown district starts with steel output at a higher rate than any January since 1929.

John DeMart, president of Campbell City Council, claims two distinctions, the youngest to hold the office in the state, if not the United States, and likely the smallest man to hold such a prestigious post, at 5’3” tall and only 126 pounds.

On Mayor Mark Moore’s last day in office, the Youngstown finance department disperses $7,767 to contractors for work done for the city and for back pay to members of the administration, including Moore, who collected $600 he had said he was donating to the city in 1934. The city still owes other employees $120,000 in back pay.