YEARS AGO

YEARS AGO

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 22, the 356th day of 2015. There are nine days left in the year. This is the first full day of winter.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1775: Esek Hopkins is appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Navy.

1894: French army officer Alfred Dreyfus is convicted of treason in a court-martial that triggered worldwide charges of anti-Semitism. (Dreyfus eventually was vindicated.)

1910: A fire lasting more than 26 hours breaks out at the Chicago Union Stock Yards; 21 firefighters are killed in the collapse of a burning building.

1944: During the World War II Battle of the Bulge, U.S. Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe rejects a German demand for surrender, writing “Nuts!” in his official reply.

1965: “Doctor Zhivago,” David Lean’s epic film adaptation of the Boris Pasternak novel starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie, has its world premiere in New York.

1990: Lech Walesa takes the oath of office as Poland’s first popularly elected president.

2001: Richard C. Reid, a passenger on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami, tries to ignite explosives in his shoes, but is subdued by flight attendants and fellow passengers. (Reid is serving a life sentence in federal prison.)

2010:President Barack Obama signs a law allowing gays for the first time in history to serve openly in America’s military, repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

The Senate ratifies the New START treaty with Russia capping nuclear warheads for both nations and restarting on-site weapons inspections.

VINDICATOR FILES

1990: Mercer County Common Pleas Judge Francis J. Fornelli denies an injunction sought by the Pennsylvania State Board of Medicine that would have stopped Grace Lucille Sykes of Stoneboro, Pa., from practicing midwifery.

Salem Mayor Alvahn Mondell declares most of the second floor of city hall to be smoke-free. Each city official is free to establish a smoking policy inside his or her office.

The Weathersfield Township Board of Zoning Appeals denies a request by Struthers excavator Vito Patierno to stockpile lime sludge from the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District on Patierno’s property in the township.

1975: Two elderly area women die in separate kitchen fires. Dead are Beulah Reid, 91, of 1621 Youngstown-Warren Road, Warren, and Elizabeth E. Watson, 88, of the State Towers Apartments in Sharon, Pa.

Louis A. Nocera of New Castle, Pa., is named divisional merchandise manager of accessories and intimate apparel at Strouss department store.

Nine girls from Troop 593 in Poland receive the First Class Award, the highest award in Girl Scouting: Michelle Cossette, Mary Ann Gallagher, Sue Lysowaki, Donna Meeker, Kathy Peet, Terry Aaron, Gretchen Gogesch and sisters Laurie and Lisa Hackley.

1965: Youngstown firemen keep damage to a minimum in a two-alarm blaze at the Julius Lazar Supermarket on Mahoning Avenue.

The Randall Starkey family of New Springfield faces a bleak Christmas after their two-story home is destroyed by fire. Christmas gifts stored at a grandfather’s home are safe.

Donald E. Manley, Ohio commander of the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s District 4, is promoted to captain.

1940: Norman P. Goss, Erskine Avenue, Boardman, is granted a patent on an invention that may end the bottleneck in steel production by facilitating continuous casting.

Membership of the Mahoning Red Cross reaches 36,033, one of the highest peace-time enrollments in the history of the organization. Co-chairmen of the drive are William J. Hitchcock and William J. Brown.

Charles W. Stillson of East Indianola Avenue, prominent Youngstown insurance man, a former member of the Youngstown Board of Education and an organizer of the Youngstown Kiwanis Club, dies after suffering a stroke.