Years Ago

Today is Friday, July 1, the 182nd day of 2011. There are 183 days left in the year. This is Canada Day.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1861: The first issue of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano is published in Rome.

1863: The Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, resulting in a Union victory, begins in Pennsylvania.

1867: Canada becomes a self-governing dominion of Great Britain as the British North America Act takes effect.

1910: Chicago’s original Comiskey Park holds its opening day under the name White Sox Park. (The home team loses to the St. Louis Browns, 2-0.)

1943: “Pay-as-you-go” income tax withholding begins.

1946: The United States explodes a 20-kiloton atomic bomb near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.

1961: Diana, the princess of Wales, is born in Sandringham, England. (She dies in a 1997 car crash in Paris at age 36.)

1971: The 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which lowered the minimum voting age from 21 to 18, is ratified.

The United States Post Office Department is replaced with the United States Postal Service.

1980: “O Canada” is proclaimed the national anthem of Canada.

1991: President George H.W. Bush nominates federal appeals court judge Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: The Eastgate Development and Transportation Agency sues the city of Girard for payment of $19,350 in dues that EDATA says the city owes.

Connecticut authorities have issued a warning to that state’s residents against the illegal use of a large amount of fireworks that have been sold in the state through mail orders to a Youngstown area company, Blue Angel Fireworks.

Dr. Jack Schreiber, a Canfield family physician and a delegate from Ohio to the American Medical Association House of Delegates, retires after 30 years in medicine.

1971: Trumbull County Probate Judge Reed Battin agrees to delay jailing commissioners John F. McCloskey and Gary J. Thompson for contempt of court until the Ohio Supreme Court rules in their case. Battin found the two guilty of contempt for refusing to allocate money for raises for court employees.

John F. Busko, 13, of Campbell is in critical condition with a gunshot wound of the head reportedly suffered when a motorist opened fire on youths throwing firecrackers at passing cars. A 44-year-old man is in custody.

The Mahoning County jail is in danger of being overcrowded by federal prisoners being transferred to Youngstown as a result of the recent cancellation of a contract between Start County jail and federal authorities.

1961: Dr. J. George Harrar, just announced as president of the Rockefeller Foundation, succeeding Dean Rusk, who resigned to become secretary of state, is a former Youngstown man whose father, E.S. Harrar, and sister, Mrs. A.J. Filmer, live in Canfield.

A gunman locks six employees in the vault of the Girard Federal Savings & Loan at 35 S.. State St. and escapes with $4,500.

Youngstown Police Chief Cyril M. Smolko announces the promotion of five Youngstown policemen to the rank of detective.

1936: Two men convicted of insurance fraud in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court are given sentences of 1-to-3 years in the penitentiary and five others receive suspended sentences and fines by Judge Erskine Maiden.

Fishing season opens on Newport Lake, but early anglers report little success as low water has driven the fish toward the center of the lake.

Atty. Morris Mendels-sohn of Youngstown is elected commander of the Ohio Department of Jewish War Veterans of the United States during a two-day convention in Youngstown.

The Pennsylvania Railroad is planning construction of two loading platforms at West Middlesex, Pa., in preparation for handing large crowds by special trains if Kansas Gov. Alf Landon, Republican presidential nominee, opens his campaign at his birthplace in August.