Years Ago

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 27, the 58th day of 2013. There are 307 days left in the year.

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On this date in:

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

1913: Author and playwright Irwin Shaw (“Rich Man, Poor Man”) is born in New York.

1939: The Supreme Court, in National Labor Relations Board v. Fansteel Metallurgical Corp., outlaws sit-down strikes.

1943: The U.S. government begins circulating one-cent coins made of steel plated with zinc (which prove very unpopular, since they are easily mistaken for dimes).

1968: At the conclusion of a CBS News special report on the Vietnam War, Walter Cronkite delivers a commentary in which he said the conflict appeared “mired in stalemate.”

1991: During Operation Desert Storm, President George H.W. Bush declares that “Kuwait is liberated, Iraq’s army is defeated,” and announces that the allies would suspend combat operations at midnight.

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1988: Officials of the United Steelworkers of America and a group of former and current Warren Works managers propose a joint buyout of Warren’s LTV plant.

Police charge a Warren woman and Leavittsburg man with help to dispose of the decapitated body of Richard E. Poling, but decline further comment. “We obviously want to have the ability to try this case in Trumbull County,” says Trumbull Prosecutor Dennis Watkins.

1973: Philip L. Jones retires as president of the Mahoning National Bank and is replaced by Arthur G. Young.

Betty Jean Anderson, 22, of Garyville, La., has asked for custody of “Baby Jane Doe,” the newborn girl found in the toilet of an airliner that landed at Youngstown Municipal Airport after a short flight from Pittsburgh.

The Tri-County girls basketball league, organized just two years earlier, is leading to a revival in the sport with 10 teams participating.

1963: Mrs. Charles Reibe becomes the third Austintown Township clerk to resign in less than a year, saying the job is too much and is affecting her health.

Charles Donley, 38, of Sebring spends two hours trapped in his overturned car in Lake Park Road before a passing motorist spotted the car and called Constable Herb Bellis.

1938: Theater cashier Mildred Dixon grabs a toy gun pointed at her and screams, frustrating a bandit’s attempt to rob the Palace Theater on Central Square.

Despite low operations in the mills and plants of the Youngstown district, the number of employees on local payrolls has declined very slowly

Poland Seminary High stages a last quarter rally to defeat Canfield, 28-24, for the Mahoning County Class B cage title before 1,800 fans at the Boardman High gym.