Years Ago

Today is Saturday, Jan. 21, the 21st day of 2012. There are 345 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1793: During the French Revolution, King Louis XVI, condemned for treason, is executed on the guillotine.

1908: New York City’s Board of Aldermen passes an ordinance prohibiting women from smoking in public.

1937: Count Basie and his band record “One O’Clock Jump” for Decca Records (on this date in 1942, they re-recorded the song for Okeh Records).

1950: George Orwell (Eric Blair), author of “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” dies in London at age 46.

1954: The first atomic submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched at Groton, Conn. (However, the Nautilus does not make its first nuclear-powered run until nearly a year later.)

1968: The Battle of Khe Sanh begins during the Vietnam War as North Vietnamese forces attack a U.S. Marine base; the Americans are able to hold their position until the siege is lifted 2 Ω months later.

An American B-52 bomber carrying four hydrogen bombs crashes in Greenland, killing one crew member and scattering radioactive material.

1977: President Jimmy Carter pardons almost all Vietnam War draft evaders.

1997: Speaker Newt Gingrich is reprimanded and fined as the House votes for the first time in history to discipline its leader for ethical misconduct.

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: Architect Paul J. Ricciuti and Realtor Daniel Lewis, two of the partners leasing the vacant Strouss-Kaufmann’s store, take news media on a tour of the building, which is being readied for a major tenant, Phar-Mor Discounts.

A survey by the Council for Economic Opportunities in Greater Cleveland shows that one in seven people in Ohio is living in poverty; one in six in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.

Boardman Township trustees name James E. Wilson to fill the year-old vacancy of fire chief.

1972: Labor trouble at General Motors Corp.’s Lordstown plant has cost production of 12,000 Vegas and 4,000 vans and $3.3 million in wages, GM estimates.

B&B Construction Co. submits the apparent low bid of $3.2 million as general contractor for the $7.4 million Choffin Career Center in Youngstown.

1962: U.S. Rep. Michael J. Kirwan of Youngstown has an honored spot at the head table as 6,000 Democrats attend an inaugural-anniversary dinner for President John F. Kennedy in Washington.

When astronaut John Glenn blasts off into space, a Niles man, Capt. Jerald D. Parker, will be watching with special interest. Glenn and Parker became fast friends while watching each other’s back during dog fights in “MIG Alley” over North Korea.

Sharon police say they’ll “throw the book” at two Mantua, Ohio, thugs who have admitted to beating the wife of a Sharon Steel Corp. official in a public parking lot during a robbery.

1937: A fire believed to have been started by boys playing with matches sweeps through the old Ice & Fuel Co. storage plant at 517 Oak Hill Ave.

The Mahoning River rises nearly 1 Ω feet in half a day, threatening to overrun its banks. The Ohio River continues to rise with early damage estimated at $1 million in Cincinnati

Peter Betchunis is chosen president of the Lincoln Chapter of Ahepa at its annual reorganization meeting in St. John’s Auditorium.

Youngstown City Engineer A.R. Haenny says the Crab Creek and Wood Street sewer projects under the WPA program are threatened by federal works regulations that increase the sponsor’s share of the cost to about 20 percent.