Years Ago

Today is Friday, March 11, the 70th day of 2011. There are 295 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1861: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted by the Confederate Congress in Montgomery, Ala.

1888: The famous Blizzard of ’88 begins inundating the northeastern United States, resulting in some 400 deaths.

1930: Former President and Chief Justice William Howard Taft is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

1941: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Bill, providing war supplies to countries fighting the Axis.

1942: As Japanese forces continue to advance in the Pacific during World War II, Gen. Douglas MacArthur leaves the Philippines for Australia.

1965: The Rev. James J. Reeb, a white minister from Boston, dies after being beaten by whites during civil rights disturbances in Selma, Ala.

1985: Mikhail S. Gorbachev is chosen to succeed the late Soviet President Konstantin U. Chernenko.

2004: Ten bombs explode in quick succession across the commuter rail network in Madrid, Spain, killing 191 people and wounding more than 2,000 in an attack linked to al-Qaida-inspired militants.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Goodwill Industries in Youngstown announces that it has begun making mats for home and commercial use from recycled tires, using equipment formerly employed for that purpose by the Rescue Mission’s New Life Center.

Robert F. Hagan, candidate for the Democratic nomination for the 53rd State House district, criticizes the requirement that deputy registrars pay a percentage of their income to the political party to which the governor belongs. He says the practice means that anyone who owns a car is indirectly contributing to a political party when buying license plates.

1971: A 40-year-old Youngstown man who has been held in the Mahoning County Jail for more than a year after being arrested for drug possession says he is being deprived of his right to a speedy trial.

Warren voters reject an increase in the city income tax from 1 percent to 1.5 percent by a vote of 7,731 against, 2,683 for.

Dolores Sullivan, adviser of The Bugle, Boardman High School’s biweekly newspaper, is notified that the paper has been awarded the top rating by the National Scholastic Press Association of the University of Minnesota.

1961: Youngstown City Council authorizes the board of control to enter into a lease with an operator who will keep Lansdowne Airport open for light aircraft.

Burglars peel open a large safe at the Cook Coffee Co., 2828 South Ave., and carry off a small safe, escaping with $500 in cash and checks.

Advertisement: Greyhound slashes round trip fare to Pittsburgh, only $3.75.

1936: Well-dressed men and women crowd around the dice and roulette tables at the Hill Top Club on Youngstown-Hubbard Road, the area’s newest fashionable gambling spot in the Youngstown area.

Giles C. Driver, president of the national Retail Credit Association, tells more than 100 credit men and woman meeting in the McKelvey Dining Room that the loose credit policies of 1928 and ’29 that brought disaster are returning to business.