Years Ago

Today is Thursday, Feb. 16, the 47th day of 2012. There are 319 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1804: Lt. Stephen Decatur leads a successful raid into Tripoli Harbor to burn the U.S. Navy frigate Philadelphia, which had fallen into the hands of pirates.

1868: The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is organized in New York City.

1923: The burial chamber of King Tutankhamen’s recently unearthed tomb is unsealed in Egypt by English archaeologist Howard Carter.

1945: American troops land on the island of Corregidor in the Philippines during World War II.

1987: John Demjanjuk goes on trial in Jerusalem, accused of being “Ivan the Terrible,” a guard at the Treblinka Nazi concentration camp.

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: More than 125 people have volunteered to provide new homes for 45 dogs seized from a Guilford Lake home by humane agents.

Dr. Lauren A. Schroeder, professor of biological sciences at Youngstown State University, says the Mahoning River can be reclaimed for extensive recreational use within the next 10 years if sewage and other pollutants can be kept from entering its waters.

1972: Canfield City Council turns down a request to rezone an area north of Route 224 near Route 11 to allow construction of a Boy Scouts headquarters, hotel and multiple family dwellings.

Common Pleas Judge Sidney J. Rigelhaupt gives permission for representatives of the Ohio Water Pollution Control Board to operate the Campbell sewage treatment plant during a strike by city employees.

1962: Only 34,000 people turn out for the first day of Phase 2 of the Mahoning County Medical Society’s mass immunization program, far below the 50,000 who received the first phase of the Sabin oral vaccine in 1961.

Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge John W. Ford upholds Youngstown’s anti-gambling ordinance that outlaws pinball machines and bowling devices.

Phillip Panno, 2nd Ward councilman, suggests that the city move its street department to an 11 acre parcel in the W. Federal slum clearance area. The former recreation hall for St. Anthony Church is the only building left standing in the area.

1937: A bill is introduced in Columbus that would increase the pay of municipal court judges such as those in Youngstown by $2,100 a year, bringing their salary to $7,200.

Henry Ford, who established the $5 minimum daily wage in 1914, says a high minimum wage is the best basis upon which peace between industry and labor can be maintained. Ford now pays $6 per day.