Years Ago

Today is Sunday, July 31, the 212th day of 2011. There are 153 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1777: The Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, is made a major-general in the American Continental Army.

1941: Japan apologizes to the United States a day after its bombers damage the gunboat USS Tutuila at Chongqing, China.

1961: For the first time in baseball history, an All-Star Game ends in a draw, 1-1, as rain stops the contest at Fenway Park.

IBM introduces its first Selectric typewriter with its distinctive “typeball.”

1964: The American space probe Ranger 7 reaches the moon, transmitting pictures back to Earth before crashing onto the lunar surface.

1971: Apollo 15 crew members David Scott and James Irwin become the first astronauts to use a lunar rover on the surface of the moon.

1981: A seven-week-old Major League Baseball strike ends.

1991: President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev sign the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Youngstown Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro, angered by USX Corp.’s refusal to donate its Ohio Works property to the city for redevelopment, says he is considering pursuing eminent domain to get title to the property.

LTV Corp. says it will continue health and life insurance coverage for retirees for six months, heading off a threatened strike by USW employees.

Ex-Cleveland Browns Coach Sam Rutigliano says he was misquoted in a story that reported he believed someone in the Cleveland Browns organization introduced Browns defensive back Don Rogers to cocaine. Rogers died of cocaine poisoning.

1971: The Youngstown Park and Recreation Commission votes to demolish privately owned cottages on a 15-acre site at Lake Milton that has been selected for a new city-owned bathing beach and picnic area.

The Mass Transit Authority decides not to place a bus levy on the November ballot in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

Sen. Robert Taft Jr., R-Ohio, agrees to co-sponsor a “Steel Trade Act of 1971,” which would limit imports of steel to about 15 million tons annually.

1961: Federal agents are already investigating vice conditions in the Mahoning Valley, says Gov. Michael V. DiSalle.

A Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter writes that numbers gambling can be beat, citing success Cleveland had in cracking down on the $15 million per year rackets that inspired murders, beatings and extortion.

The East Ohio Gas Co. files a request for the biggest single rate increase in history from its consumers in northeast Ohio, including Youngstown. The 24 percent increase would produce $34 million a year and cost the average homeowner about $3 a month.

Randall W. Hendricks, commander of the U.S. Air Force’s 757th Troop Carrier Squadron in Youngstown and a World War II fighter pilot ace, is promoted to the rank of full colonel.

1936: Enraged neighbors beat to death a dog that bit five-year-old Delores Corvello of 285 E. Rayen Ave. as she was playing in front of her home.

Bobby Harris, 12, of 429 W. Madison Ave., inches out his brother, Harry, 15, to win The Vindicator-Chevrolet Soap Box Derby on Gypsy Lane. Bobby wins the grand prize, a pony with saddle and bridle.

Youngstown Bishop Joseph Schrembs reports during a private audience with Pope Pius XI on progress being made to improve the moral quality of motion pictures in the United States.

A group of homeowners complains to Mayor Lionel Evans that fireworks displays at Idora Park are disturbing the peace and causing damage to nearby homes.