YEARS AGO

Today is Friday, Aug. 14, the 226th day of 2015. There are 139 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1848: The Oregon Territory is created.

1900: International forces, including U.S. Marines, enter Beijing to put down the Boxer Rebellion, which was aimed at purging China of foreign influence.

1935: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act into law.

1944: The federal government allows the manufacture of certain domestic appliances, such as electric ranges and vacuum cleaners, to resume on a limited basis.

1945: President Harry S. Truman announces that Imperial Japan has surrendered unconditionally, ending World War II.

1947: Pakistan becomes independent of British rule.

1951: Newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, 88, dies in Beverly Hills, Calif.

1969: British troops go to Northern Ireland to intervene in sectarian violence between Protestants and Roman Catholics.

1973: U.S. bombing of Cambodia comes to a halt.

1975: The cult classic movie musical “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick, has its world premiere in London.

1980: Workers go on strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, in a job action that results in creation of the Solidarity labor movement.

Actress-model Dorothy Stratten, 20, is shot to death by her estranged husband and manager, Paul Snider, who then kills himself.

1989: South African President P.W. Botha announces his resignation after losing a bitter power struggle within his National Party.

1995: Shannon Faulkner officially becomes the first female cadet in the history of The Citadel, South Carolina’s state military college. (However, Faulkner quit the school less than a week later, citing the stress of her court fight and her isolation among the male cadets.)

2005: Israel seals the Gaza Strip to Israeli civilians, signaling the start of the historic withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

VINDICATOR FILES

1990: The Youngstown Health Department and prosecutor’s office are seeking the whereabouts of eight residents of an unlicensed group home at 243 Fairgreen Ave. It is believed they were moved to another unlicensed home on the North Side.

The B.J. Alan Co. of Youngstown says subsidized Chinese fireworks are hurting the domestic sparkler industry. The International Trade commission issues a preliminary finding in support of the Youngstown company.

The Mill Creek Metropolitan Park District creates a 20-minute video, “Legacy for the Future – The Story of Mill Creek Park.” The Edward J. DeBartolo Co. funded the project.

1975: Warren Municipal Court Judge James A. Ravella is honored for serving 25 years on the bench.

Youngstown officials are told that the city’s water-quality improvement project that had been 26th on the EPA’s priority list has been dropped to 252 on the list. Construction will be delayed until 1981 through 1985.

William Cochran, 58, of Howland says he considers himself lucky to be alive after being struck by lightning while fishing on Liberty Lake near Girard. His 14-year-old grandson, Eddie, also got a jolt.

1965: Continuing disruptions in sewer-line installations to General Motors’ new Chevrolet-Fisher Body plant in Lordstown may postpone occupancy of the huge facility.

Five new Youngstown policemen are sworn in by Chief John Terlesky. They are David Aguilar, Nick D’Alesio, Charles E. Brown, Joseph Krupa and Robert Pavelko.

Eleven senior-high boys and four adult leaders from Lowellville and Poland U.P. churches leave on a Canadian canoe trip. The boys are David and Tim Burns, Orrin Camp, Bruce Chornock, Clifford Clark, Bob Dutton, John McBridge, Bob Stanley, Pierce Bailey, Harry Braman and Ken Weibling.

1940: Curtis Manchester Jr. of Youngstown, son of Atty. and Mrs. C.A. Manchester, returns to San Francisco from the Orient saying he had a difficult time proving to the Japanese government that the purpose of his visit was to study the geography and history of Japan.

After city council’s failure to act on the proposed McGuffey housing project, Leo F. Heller, executive secretary of the Builders Association of Youngstown, says Youngstown’s serious lack of housing could cut into the share of national defense orders that will go to local plants.

Frank Crouch, 17, and his brother, Elmer, 5, drown in the Mahoning River near Covert’s Crossing, about 3 miles west of New Castle, Pa., A third brother, George, 15, nearly drowned in his attempts to save his brothers.