Years Ago

Today is Tuesday, July 12, the 193rd day of 2011. There are 172 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1812: U.S. forces led by Gen. William Hull enter Canada during the War of 1812 against Britain. (However, Hull retreats shortly thereafter to Detroit.)

1862: President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill passed by Congress authorizing the Medal of Honor.

1909: The House of Representatives joins the Senate in passing the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, allowing for a federal income tax, and submits it to the states. (It is declared ratified in February 1913.)

1960: The Etch A Sketch Magic Screen drawing toy, invented by French electrician Andre Cassagnes, is first produced by the Ohio Art Co.

1977: President Jimmy Carter defends Supreme Court limits on government payments for poor women’s abortions, saying, “There are many things in life that are not fair.”

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: About 3,000 people show up on a rainy morning for the open house at the Youngstown Air Base in Vienna Township.

The General Services Administration wants to divert $10 million appropriated for a Youngstown courthouse to a project in California, but U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. says he will fight for the local building.

1971: U.S. District Judge Frank J. Battisti in Cleveland announces the appointment of Atty. Nicholas Manos, Youngstown law director, as federal magistrate for the Youngstown area.

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader says he has uncovered test results that show General Motors knew that a half million Corvairs still on the road were unstable.

Persistent showers force the postponement of Youngstown’s Soap Box Derby for a week.

1961: Four young Scuba divers believe they have discovered the schooner James E. Joy, which sank near Ashtabula during a storm in 1887.

Playing at the Idora Park ballroom, Duane Eddy and the Rebels.

Mayor Frank R. Franko “fires” Atty. Paul Fleming from the Civil Service Commission on the eve of the commission hearing an appeal by Police Capt. Stephen Birch, who was suspended for 30 days by the mayor.

1936: The Youngstown heat wave, which reached temperatures of 103 degrees, claims its fifth victim, Anthony Petrosanec, who was stricken while working on the farm of Nicholas Trzick in North Jackson.

Ohio produce prices are soaring as the heat wave sears vegetation with an intensity exceeding the disastrous drought of 1930.

Thousands of men, women and children pass by the bier of Postmaster John J. Farrell at Handel’s funeral Home. The election board and city hall will close for the funeral of the former chairman of the Mahoning County Democratic Party.