Years Ago

Today is Friday, Oct. 7, the 280th day of 2011. There are 85 days left in the year. The Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, begins at sunset.

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On this date in:

1858: The fifth debate between Illinois senatorial candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas takes place in Galesburg.

1910: A major wildfire devastates the northern Minnesota towns of Spooner and Baudette, charring at least 300,000 acres. Some 40 people are believed to have died.

1960: Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy and Republican opponent Richard M. Nixon hold their second televised debate, in Washington, D.C.

1981: Egypt’s parliament names Vice President Hosni Mubarak to succeed the assassinated Anwar Sadat.

1996: Fox News Channel makes its debt.

1991: University of Oklahoma law professor Anita Hill publicly accuses Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of making sexually inappropriate comments when she worked for him; Thomas denies Hill’s allegations.

1998: Matthew Shepard, a gay college student at the University of Wyoming, is beaten, robbed and left tied to a wooden fencepost outside of Laramie; he dies five days later. (Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney are serving life sentences for Shepard’s murder.)

2001: The current war in Afghanistan starts as the United States and Britain launch air attacks against military targets and Osama bin Laden’s training camps in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. Speaking from the White House, President George W. Bush says, “We will not waver, we will not tire.”

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1986: Old North Church, 10 Skyline Drive, Canfield marks its 50th anniversary under its present name with several special events.

The Youngstown Board of Education will consider a new policy to prohibit leaves of absence for employees elected to public office or taking private employment, which would affect Mayor Patrick Ungaro, a high school principal on leave for more than two years.

1971: The Youngstown Health Department says it has been told that the Ohio Department of Health is discontinuing the distribution of smallpox vaccine indefinitely and is no longer recommending routine vaccinations for smallpox.

More than 500 people attend the United Appeal of Trumbull County kick-off dinner. The campaign goal is $1,070,684.

Niles agrees to become the third member of the fledgling Western Reserve Transit Authority.

1961: The resumption of nuclear testing by Russia produced the highest radioactive fallout since 1957 in Youngstown Sept.. 27, says Smoke Control Engineer Walter I. Rauh. The reading of 12.8 picocuries was much higher than pretest levels, but well below the 106 picocuries recorded in 1957.

Campbell 4th Ward Councilman Joseph R. Perry charges that gambling is open in the city and threatens to summon the county prosecutor and state attorney general if local officials don’t act.

1936: Dry leaders in Youngstown’s fifth and sixth wards are planning a intensive campaign on behalf of local options that would eliminate beer gardens and other liquor outlets in the wards.

Youngstown Players sell more than 700 regular memberships for the new playhouse season that will open in November.

A bolt of lightning during football practice kills Canton Lehman’s cocaptain, Don Correll, 18, and sends Coach Jimmy Robinson and 10 of his players to the hospital.