Years Ago

Today is Friday, May 13, the 133rd day of 2011. There are 232 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1846: The United States declares that a state of war exists with Mexico.

1861: Britain’s Queen Victoria declares her country’s neutrality in the American Civil War, but also acknowledges that the Confederacy has belligerent rights.

1917: Three shepherd children near Fatima, Portugal, report seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary.

1918: The first U.S. airmail stamps, featuring a picture of a Curtiss JN-4 biplane, is issued to the public. (On a few of the stamps, the biplane is inadvertently printed upside-down, making them collector’s items.)

1940: Britain’s new prime minister, Winston Churchill, tells Parliament: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”

1961: Actor Gary Cooper dies in Los Angeles six days after turning 60.

1981: Pope John Paul II is shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter’s Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. tells about 100 people at a meeting at the Ashtabula Campus of Kent State University that the Lake Erie-Ohio River canal could be built for $4 billion to $5 billion and would revitalize the economy of northeast Ohio.

The Big Band sounds of Angelo LaCivita and his orchestra waft through the Idora Park Ballroom at its last big dance, one of a series of events through May to bid farewell to the historic ballroom.

1971:Eleven new additions to Youngstown State University’s Penguin football squad are introduced to the Curbstone Coaches: Jack Tedrow, Bob Ellashek, Jess Lowry, Dennis Hawkins, John Krupa, Bob Stelter, Tom Miller, Dan Simon, Jim Parknavy, Paul Briya and John Biastro.

Probate Judge Charles P. Henderson is elected a director of First Federal Savings & Loan Association.

1961: Harold “Bud” Frazier shatters three records in leading Boardman to the Steel Valley Conference track championship, the 120-yard high hurdles, 180-yard low hurdles, and 220-yard dash. Bob Hill of Boardman broke the 440-yard dash record and Struthers set a new mark in the mile relay.

1936: Gov. Martin M. Davey defeats a challenge from Congressman Stephen Young in the Democratic primary and will face Atty. Gen. John Bricker in November for the Ohio governorship.

Congressman John Cooper, seeking his 12th term, easily wins the Republican primary for Congress and will face former Youngstown City Councilman Michael Kirwan, who got 40 percent of the vote in an 11-man race, in November.