years ago

Today is Saturday, Dec. 22, the 357th day of 2012. There are nine days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1775: Esek Hopkins is appointed the commander-in-chief of the Continental Navy.

1864: During the Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Sherman says in a message to President Abraham Lincoln: “I beg to present you as a Christmas-gift the city of Savannah.”

1910: A fire lasting more than 26 hours breaks out at the Chicago Union Stock Yards; 21 firefighters are killed in the collapse of a burning building.

1912: Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson, is born Claudia Alta Taylor in Karnack, Texas.

1968: Julie Nixon marries David Eisenhower in a private ceremony.

2001: Richard C. Reid, a passenger on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami, tries to ignite explosives in his shoes, but is subdued by flight attendants and passengers. (Reid is serving a life sentence in federal prison.)

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: Warren is believed to be the first city in Ohio to pass a comprehensive law restricting smoking in public buildings and retail stores and allowing restaurants to establish smoking and nonsmoking sections.

A Mahoning County jury finds William T. Dawson Jr. guilty of murder in the shooting death of Youngstown Patrolman Paul Durkin and Judge William G. Houser sentences him to 15 years to life-in-prison. Defense lawyer Edward A. Sowinski Jr. says he will appeal.

1972: J. Phillip Richley, director of the Ohio Department of Transportation, says that state Route 11 in northern Trumbull County will not be opened until 13 grade separations are completed unless Trumbull County commissioners agree to an earlier opening.

Playing at the Newport Theater: “Deliverance” starring Jon Voight and Burt Reynolds and co-starring Ned Beatty.

1962: Because no one has claimed the three $100 bills found in May by threePoland High School students, Vicki Juv-rud, Larry Pondoff and Andrew Vanish get to keep the money, just in time for Christmas shopping.

The Youngstown Area Chamber of Commerce recommends personnel cuts, increasing the rent that the Water Department pays for space in City Hall and privatizing garbage collection as ways to balance the 1963 budget.

The Rev. John Loya is named pastor of St. George Byzantine Rite Catholic Church just in time for Christmas, succeeding the Rev. Aleander Punyko, who died in October.

The Ursuline Sisters adopt modernized and simplified garb that includes a shorter veil and a small stand-up collar replacing the guimpe and a plain white headband rater than the square-cornered, starched model.

1937: One Youngstown department store executive says sales totals are about the same as a year earlier but that folks are buying five presents with a $5 bill this year rather than one.

Yehudi Menuhin, worldwide violin sensation, in Youngstown for a Monday Musical Club appearance at Stambaugh Auditorium, says he misses his ranch in California. The son of a Russian father and Tartar mother is only 21, but has been delighting audiences worldwide since age 7.