Years Ago

Today is Monday, Feb. 27, the 58th day of 2012. There are 308 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1911: Inventor Charles F. Kettering demonstrates his electric automobile starter in Detroit by starting a Cadillac’s motor with just the press of a switch, instead of hand-cranking.

1922: The Supreme Court, in Leser v. Garnett, unanimously upholds the 19th Amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing the right of women to vote.

1933: Germany’s parliament building, the Reichstag, is gutted by fire. Chancellor Adolf Hitler, blaming the Communists, uses the fire as justification for suspending civil liberties.

1942: The Battle of the Java Sea begins during World War II; Imperial Japanese naval forces score a decisive victory over the Allies.

1951: The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms of office, is ratified.

1960: The U.S. Olympic hockey team defeats the Soviets, 3-2, at the Winter Games in Squaw Valley, Calif. (The U.S. team goes on to win the gold medal.)

1982: Wayne Williams is found guilty of murdering two of the 28 young blacks whose bodies were found in the Atlanta area over a 22-month period. (Williams, who was also blamed for 22 other deaths, has maintained his innocence.)

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: Gov. Richard Celeste signs a bill aimed at discouraging hostile takeovers, saying the state is “sending a clear message to Wall Street that Ohio is a place to make honest money, not a quick buck.”

State Rep. Joseph J. Vukovich, sponsor of a bill to eliminate one of Youngstown’s three municipal judgeships, says opposition raised at a hearing on the bill has probably doomed it. Among those who testified against the bill was Third Ward Councilman George McKelvey, who until a day earlier, had publicly supported it.

1972: Mooney High School, defending Ohio High School Speech League champions, led the Youngstown district finals, qualifying eight students for the State tournament.

The Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. announces it will break ground in April on a multimillion-dollar, 120-room hotel at South Avenue and McKay Court.

General Motors employees at Packard Electric and Chevrolet divisions in Trumbull County are paid more than $320,000 in bonuses for some 7,000 suggestions received in 1971.

1962: The Ohio State Liquor Department is attempting to close the plush “A” Lounge that operates a block from City Hall on the grounds that its manager and host, Joseph “Fats” Aiello has a criminal record.

Astronaut John H. Glenn warns Congress that some future space flights will fail, possibly with the loss of life, but he urges lawmakers not to lose faith in the space program.

1937: Burglars break into the main building of the Youngstown Public Library and ransack two offices, damaging a number of desks, but flee empty-handed.

Two-hundred-and-twenty Youngstown policemen and firemen file suit in common pleas court to recover about $200,000 they say they are owed from an unlawful 10 percent pay cut they were given several years earlier.