Years Ago

Today is Monday, June 20, the 171st day of 2011. There are 194 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1782: Congress approves the Great Seal of the United States.

1791: King Louis XVI of France and his family attempt to flee the country in the so-called “Flight to Varennes” but are caught.

1837: Queen Victoria accedes to the British throne following the death of her uncle, King William IV.

1863: West Virginia becomes the 35th state.

1893: A jury in New Bedford, Mass., finds Lizzie Borden not guilty of the ax murders of her father and stepmother.

1910: Entertainer Fanny Brice makes her official debut with The Ziegfeld Follies.

1921: U.S. Rep. Alice Mary Robertson, R-Okla., becomes the first woman to preside over a session of the House of Representatives. The milestone is reached during a roll call vote on funding a U.S. delegation to the centenary celebration of Peru’s independence.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: West Virginia Gov. Arch Moore says clean- coal technology is the best response to coal’s critics and their concerns about acid rain.

Sharon City Council agrees to allow Sharon Steel Corp. to pay its 1986 property taxes late and in six installments without fear of penalty.

1971: Parking looms as a major problem at Youngstown State University in the fall because an operating engineers strike has brought work on a new parking deck to a standstill.

Youngstown area United Presbyterian ministers are hoping their churches don’t get caught up in growing protests by congregations against a $10,000 donation made by the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. to the defense fund of Angela Davis, an avowed communist activist.

1961: Clarys Rockey, the head nurse at Youngs-town’s South Side Hospital, and her daughter, Karen, 24, a student nurse, are killed when their car crashes a stop sign and is struck broadside at Shields Road and Lockwood Boulevard.

Michael Palmer of New Castle testifies to the Pennsylvania Civil Service Commission that he lost his job as a state auditor because he refused to buy tickets to a Lawrence County Democratic Party picnic.

1936: German heavyweight Max Schmeling beats the odds and knocks out Joe Louis, the Brown Bomber, in round 12 of a 15-round match before 40,000 fans at Yankee Stadium.

Youngstown Mayor Lionel Evans refuses to sign legislation passed by City Council increasing the pay of four assistant city engineers who earn less than $3,000 a year by $20 to $420 per man.