Years Ago

Today is Ash Wednesday, Feb. 22, the 53rd day of 2012. There are 313 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1784: A U.S. merchant ship, the Empress of China, leaves New York for the Far East to trade goods with China.

1909: The Great White Fleet, a naval task force sent on a round-the-world voyage by President Theodore Roosevelt, returns after more than a year at sea.

1924: President Calvin Coolidge delivers the first radio broadcast from the White House as he addresses the country over 42 stations.

1935: It becomes illegal for airplanes to fly over the White House.

1959: The inaugural Daytona 500 race is held; although Johnny Beauchamp is initially declared the winner, the victory is later awarded to Lee Petty.

1967: More than 25,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops launch Operation Junction City, aimed at smashing a Vietcong stronghold near the Cambodian border.

1980: The “Miracle on Ice” takes place in Lake Placid, N.Y., as the United States Olympic hockey team upsets the Soviets, 4-3. (The U.S. team goes on to win the gold medal.)

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: Youngstown Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro is hopeful that a group of community leaders who helped pave the way for development of the Strouss building downtown can do the same for the Higbee Building.

The Rev. Patrick Wright McMahon, former assistant pastor of Second Presbyterian Church of Saginaw, Mich., is installed as pastor of Coitsville Presbyterian Church.

1972: Rand Becker, principal of Hayes Middle School in Youngstown, says there is an unusually high number of absentees – 180 students – after a long holiday weekend that began early when students were sent home Friday afternoon following a “discipline incident.”

Joseph Butchko, a lieutenant in the Warren Fire Department, has been collecting ice skates for decades and has a collection of 600 from all over the world, including a pair made of bone believed to be 700 years old.

1962: East High School, the Warren city schools and Ildiko Orth, a former Niles resident and graduate of Niles McKinley High School, are award winners at the 13th annual Freedoms Foundation awards ceremony at Valley Forge, Pa.

Youngstown City Council votes to sell $6 million in bonds to finance construction of a new sewage treatment plant, clearing the way for construction to begin within a month.

1937: A gale sweeps through Mahoning County, downing trees, tearing off some roofs and virtually destroying a $5,000 greenhouse at Canfield Gardens.

Charles C. Gibson, 58, of Salem, president and chairman of the board of Mullins Manufacturing Corp., is found dead by his butler in a full bathtub in his S. Lincoln Avenue Home. Columbiana County Coroner Dr. Arnold W. Devon says Gibson probably had a heart attack before drowning.