Years Ago

Today is Saturday, June 11, the 162nd day of 2011. There are 203 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1509: England’s King Henry VIII marries his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

1770: Capt. James Cook, commander of the British ship Endeavour, discovers the Great Barrier Reef off Australia by running onto it.

1776: The Continental Congress forms a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence calling for freedom from Britain.

1919: Sir Barton wins the Belmont Stakes, becoming horse racing’s first Triple Crown winner.

1936: Kansas Gov. Alfred “Alf” Landon is nominated for president at the Republican national convention in Cleveland.

1947: The government announces the end of household and institutional sugar rationing, to take effect the next day.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: The Youngstown Board of Education crafts an affirmative action plan that would boost its number of minority and female employees over five years.

The Ungaro administration wants to hire 12 police officers by 1987 in an effort to beef up patrols and to meet the requirements of a federal consent decree.

1971: Mahoning County’s welfare caseload climbs again in May, adding 252 cases to reach a record of 7,531 cases with 16,104 recipients.

George J. Shutrump, 66, president of the Builders Co. Inc. and prominent in the construction industry in Mahoning and Shenango valleys, dies of a heart attack at his home.

Trumbull County commissioners vote to designate a $50,000 grant that had been earmarked for airport facilities in Warren to Youngstown for the Youngstown Municipal Airport.

1961: Warren police find the 1959 Chevrolet used in the fatal attack on Warren mob boss Mike Farah. Inside is the shotgun believed to be the murder weapon. The car was abandoned in the parking lot of Heltzel Steel Form Co. on Niles Road.

David Howland, one of the most renowned speech teachers in the country, won’t be returning to the Rayen School classrooms in the fall, but will join the Youngstown University faculty.

Cardinal Mooney High School is adding a $248,000 wing that will contain seven additional classrooms.

1936: Former President Herbert Hoover receives a spontaneous 15-minute ovation from 20,000 men and women at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

Republicans in Cleveland set their slogan, “three long years,” a reference to the term of Franklin D. Roosevelt, to music. Sung to the tune of “Three Blind Mice,” The lyrics: “Three long years/Three long years/Full of grief and tears/Full of grief and tears/Frankie gave us to understand/If we would lend a helping hand/He’d lead us to the promised land - for three long years.”

Federal authorities approve contracts for the Wick Avenue grade elimination project in Youngstown.

Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co.’s earnings for the first half of 1936 are expected to be $4 per share.