Years Ago

Today is Thursday, Sept. 25, the 268th day of 2014. There are 97 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1789: The first United States Congress adopts 12 amendments to the Constitution and sends them to the states for ratification. (Ten of the amendments become the Bill of Rights.)

1690: One of the earliest American newspapers, Publick Occurrences, publishes its first — and last — edition in Boston.

1775: American Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen is captured by the British as he leads an attack on Montreal. (Allen was released by the British in 1778.)

1904: A New York City police officer orders a female automobile passenger on Fifth Avenue to stop smoking a cigarette. (A male companion was arrested and later fined $2 for “abusing” the officer.)

1932: The Spanish region of Catalonia receives a Charter of Autonomy (however, the Charter was revoked by Francisco Franco at the end of the Spanish Civil War).

1957: Nine black students who’d been forced to withdraw from Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., because of unruly white crowds are escorted to class by members of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division.

VINDICATOR FILES

1989: The Ohio Department of Health is telling Salem-area residents that it does not know the potential health effects of Mirex, the chemical that contaminates the middle fork of Little Beaver Creek.

A technical problem disrupts the live telecast of the Ohio Lottery’s “kicker” number when the wheel used to pick the first number became stuck between 5 and 6. An off-camera drawing using a back-up device resulted in 9 becoming the first number of the kicker 934515.

The discovery of asbestos in the old Summit Street power plant in Warren puts demolition plans on hold while owners decide how to handle the carcinogenic material.

1974: Mahoning County Prosecutor Vincent Gilmartin objects to the possible release of 15 men on shock probation after serving one to six months in prison, including six involved in crimes of violence that include murder, rape and armed robbery.

The Rev. Norman M. Parr resigns as executive director of the Mahoning Valley Association of Churches to take a job as special services representative of Postal Church Services Inc., 8401 Southern Blvd.

General Motors is flexing its corporate muscle in support of a three-year moratorium on new auto safety and antipollution laws, calling them inflationary.

1964: Republic Steel announces that it will build a $40 million plant in Gadsden, Ala., to increase the production of finished steel.

Barry Goldwater Jr. is in the Youngstown area campaigning for his father, the Republican challenger to President Lyndon Johnson.

A Newton Falls man, Clifford Bailey, 49, dies when a car he was working on at his home slipped from a jack, crushing him.

1939: General Fireproofing Co. starts construction of a manufacturing building to house tanks for the anodic treatment of aluminum.

The first hunting accident of the squirrel season is reported when William Greer, 26, of R.D. 5, Warren, is accidentally shot while seated under a tree. He is in a Warren hospital.

A horrified crowd of 4,200 sees Lynne DeJane, 31, Washingtonville midget race car driver, seriously injured when his car tangles with another and flips into the air at about 40 mph at the Canfield Fairgrounds.