Years Ago

Today is Saturday, June 4, the 155th day of 2011. There are 210 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1784: Opera singer Elizabeth Thible becomes the first woman to fly aboard a Montgolfier hot-air balloon, over Lyon, France.

1892: The Sierra Club is incorporated in San Francisco.

1919: Congress approves the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing citizens the right to vote regardless of their gender, and sends it to the states for ratification.

1939: The German ocean liner St. Louis, carrying more than 900 Jewish refugees from Germany, is turned away from the Florida coast by U.S. officials.

1942: The Pacific Battle of Midway begins during World War II.

1954: French Premier Joseph Laniel and Vietnamese Premier Buu Loc sign treaties in Paris according “complete independence” to Vietnam.

1986: Jonathan Jay Pollard, a former Navy intelligence analyst, pleads guilty in Washington to conspiring to deliver information related to the national defense to a foreign government, specifically Israel. (He is serving a life prison term.)

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Four Youngstown city councilmen pledge to support the proposed changes in the Home Rule Charter, including four-year terms for council members.

The Youngstown Board of Control approves $20,000 under its interest subsidy loan program for Youngstown Metal Fabricating, a Struthers company that is moving to the city.

Youngstown Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro will send a team of city inspectors to the defunct Voyager Motor Inn downtown in search of violations of city building codes.

Municipal Judge Frank X. Kryzan dismisses a misdemeanor gambling charge against Pete Tsakos, 73, operator of Pete’s Music, 546 market St., from which 23 electronic machines that could be used for gambling were confiscated by city police.

1971: The suspension of two students, one for threatening a teacher and the other for vandalism at Liberty High School, sparks a demonstration that results in the suspension of 157 students, most of them seniors.

W. Russell Preston, assistant vice president of the Higbee Co. and vice president of McKelvey’s, is honored as “boss of the year” by the Tri-County Chapter of the American Business Women’s Association.

Gov. John Gilligan names Trumbull County Prosecutor David M. Griffith to the seat on the Trumbull County Common Pleas Court that became vacant by the resignation of his brother, Lynn B. Griffith Jr.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Richard Rousher of Youngstown dies in the crash of an Air Force tanker-plane during a violent storm in Spain.

1961: The Youngstown district’s huge steel mills are moving from relying on “strong backs” to machines and “electronic brains,” a transition that will eliminate thousands of jobs in the mills that employ 50,000 men.

The Youngstown Junior Chamber of Commerce is selling tickets for the appearance of the Wallace Bros. Circus at the Canfield Fairgrounds.

Cardinal Mooney High School graduates the city’s largest high school class, awarding diplomas to 337 students at Stambaugh Auditorium.

1936: John Bowser, son of city detective Tom Bowser, is a star athlete at Marietta College and pulls at No. 7 on the university’s varsity boat. He’s also captain of the basketball team.

Mrs. Frank H. Buhl, after whose family Buhl Park, Buhl Armory, Buhl Hospital and Buhl Club were named in the Shenango Valley, dies at her E. State Street home at the age of 82. She was one of the Valley’s wealthiest residents and most outstanding philanthropists.