Years Ago

Today is Friday, Nov. 18, the 322nd day of 2011. There are 43 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1883: The United States and Canada adopt Standard Time zones.

1928: Walt Disney’s first sound-synchronized animated cartoon, “Steamboat Willie” starring Mickey Mouse, premieres in New York.

1958: The cargo freighter SS Carl D. Bradley sinks during a storm in Lake Michigan, claiming 33 of the 35 lives on board.

1966: U.S. Roman Catholic bishops do away with the rule against eating meat on Fridays outside of Lent.

1978: U.S. Rep. Leo J. Ryan, D-Calif., and four others are killed in Jonestown, Guyana, by members of the Peoples Temple; the killings are followed by a night of mass murder and suicide by more than 900 cult members.

1987: The congressional Iran-Contra committees issue their final report, saying President Ronald Reagan bears “ultimate responsibility” for wrongdoing by his aides.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Atty. Don L. Hanni Jr., chairman of the Mahoning County Democratic Party, is urging U.S. Sen. John Glenn of Ohio to run for the Democratic nomination for president.

About 140 workers fired from the Weatherbee Coat Inc. plant in Youngstown because they refused to accept wage and benefit cuts ask U.S, Bankruptcy Judge William Bodoh to issue an order that they be returned to work. The company cut the hourly rate from a top scale of $4.80 to $3.35 and cut health and pension benefits.

1971: A chartered twin-engine plane from Lansdowne Airport in Youngstown crashes in Lake County, killing the pilot, William Shedden, 31, and three executives of North American Rockwell Corp.’s Ashtabula plastics division.

City officials and members of the Buckeye Elks Lodge No. 73 break ground on a $500,000 Youth Development Center on North Avenue.

1961: A bandit robs the General Motors Acceptance Corp. office at 4495 Market St., escaping with $2,500.

An armed bandit escapes after robbing a taxi driver of $27 in a dark section of Broadway near Fifth Avenue.

1936: The new 1937 models, larger and sleeker, draw 7,000 people to the first day of the Youngstown auto show at Stambaugh Auditorium.

The thin lines of the “Boys in Blue” are becoming thinner in Youngstown and with only seven veterans of the Civil War left in the Youngstown post of the Grand Army of the Republic will surrender its charter after 50 years.