Years Ago

Today is Friday, May 4, the 125th day of 2012. There are 241 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1776: Rhode Island declares its freedom from England, two months before the Declaration of Independence is adopted.

1886: At Haymarket Square in Chicago, a labor demonstration for an 8-hour work day turns into a deadly riot when a bomb explodes.

1904: The United States takes over construction of the Panama Canal.

1916: Responding to a demand from President Woodrow Wilson, Germany agrees to limit its submarine warfare. (However, Germany resumes unrestricted submarine warfare the following year.)

1932: Mobster Al Capone, convicted of income-tax evasion, enters the federal penitentiary in Atlanta. (Capone is later transferred to Alcatraz Island.)

1942: The Battle of the Coral Sea, the first naval clash fought entirely with carrier aircraft, begins in the Pacific during World War II. (The outcome is considered a tactical victory for Imperial Japan, but ultimately a strategic one for the Allies.)

1959: The first Grammy Awards are presented at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Domenico Modugno wins Record of the Year and Song of the Year for “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)”; Henry Mancini wins Album of the Year for “The Music from Peter Gunn.”

1961: The first group of “Freedom Riders” leaves Washington, D.C., to challenge racial segregation on interstate buses and in bus terminals.

1970: Ohio National Guardsmen open fire during an anti-war protest at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine others.

1994: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat sign an accord on Palestinian autonomy that grants self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: More than 900 grocery workers ratify a three-year contract, ending a six-month strike at the Boardman Giant Eagle and avoiding a strike at a dozen other Giant Eagle and Valu King supermarkets in the Youngstown area.

Schools are closed in Brookfield after contract negotiations break down and striking teachers and bus drivers put up picket lines.

An estimated 4 million illegal aliens — from Mexico, El Salvador, Poland, Germany, China, Japan, Kenya, South Africa, Ireland, France and at least a hundred other countries — become eligible for an amnesty program that leads to citizenship.

1972: Alton B. Rhoades, 67, of Sharon is killed by a car while walking in Stateline Road, two minutes after a Brookfield police officer warned him to move from the middle of the eastbound lane to the berm.

Bishop Kilpatrick, two-term state senator and a veteran of 24 years in the Ohio House of Representatives, is overthrown in his quest for a third Senate term by Girard Council President Thomas E. Carney, who won the Democratic nomination by 4,000 votes.

Nine area students are among 850 four-year merit scholarship winners in the nation: William A. Heidrich III, Nancy Pierko, Elizabeth Sharer, James R. Heinrich, Rebecca L. Stumpf, Paul J. Beckman, Bonnie L. Snyder, Thomas J. Aufrance and John A. Rowlands.

1962: Mahoning County Auditor Charles B. Rayburn, 85, a former teacher and auditor for 17 years, dies in South Side Hospital after a long illness.

Al Davies, Mill Creek Park superintendent, says boating centers at the park will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. daily, renting row boats, motor boats and sailboats.

Youngstown Police Chief William Golden calls on all home owners in the Youngstown area to take extra precautions to avoid home burglaries during the vacation season.

1937: Youngstown’s Community Corp. raises $264,767 in its annual drive, an increase of over $30,000 from 1936, but still $10,000 short of the 1937 goal.

The Steel Workers Organizing Committee files a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against Republic Steel Corp. claiming that 100 employees involved in union activities have been fired.

Mahoning County Probate Judge Clifford Woodside’s bill to reorganize Ohio’s methods of handling mental and insanity cases in a more humane way passes the Ohio General Assembly and goes to Gov. Martin L. Davey for his signature.