YEARS AGO
Today is Monday, Dec. 19, the 354th day of 2016. There are 12 days left in the year.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
On this date in:
1777: Gen. George Washington leads his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pa., to camp for the winter.
1813: British forces capture Fort Niagara during the War of 1812.
1843: “A Christmas Carol,” by Charles Dickens, is first published in England.
1907: Two hundred and thirty-nine workers die in a coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pa.
1946: War breaks out in Indochina as troops under Ho Chi Minh launch widespread attacks against the French.
1996: The television industry unveils a plan to rate programs using tags such as “TV-G” (suitable for all ages), “TV-Y” (suitable for all youngsters) and “TV-M” (for mature audiences only).
1998: President Bill Clinton is impeached by the Republican-controlled House for perjury and obstruction of justice (he is subsequently acquitted by the Senate).
2011: North Korea announces the death two days earlier of leader Kim Jong Il; North Koreans march by the thousands to mourn their “Dear Leader” while state media proclaims his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, a “Great Successor.”
2015: Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton debate in Manchester, N.H., where they engage in a pointed but polite discussion of national security, Americans’ heightened terrorism fears and the economy.
VINDICATOR FILES
1991: General Motors, the world’s largest automaker, announces restructuring plans that will close 21 plants and eliminate 74,000 jobs. There is no word on the possible impact on Lordstown and Packard Electric in the Mahoning Valley.
A tentative agreement is reached in the third day of a strike by 1,200 employees against the Western Reserve Care System.
Youngstown State University’s football team boards a charter flight at Youngstown Municipal Airport on the way to the Division 1-AA national championship game against Marshall University in Georgia.
1976: James L. Daniel, the new president of RMI Inc. says that if President-elect Jimmy Carter scraps the B-1 bomber project it will not only be a blow to the company and its Niles plant, but it will increase the security threat presented by China and Russia.
After three years of litigation, the Voyager Motor Inn in downtown Youngstown will be auctioned at a sheriff’s sale Dec. 28.
Vindicator Politics Editor Clingan Jackson writes a page-one column recalling nearly 50 years of reporting, including his time spent with cowboy philosopher Will Rogers, senator and ambassador William Saxbe, physicist Robert A. Millikan, playwright John Drinkwater, actor Jackie Coogan and covering the funeral of President John F. Kennedy.
1966: The Rev. Richard Reis, assistant superintendent of Youngstown Diocesan Schools, presents Ad Alteri Dei and Marian Catholic scouting awards to 42 boys and 73 girls at St. Columba Cathedral.
Thirty members of the Senior Women’s Welsh Club and their guests attend the annual Christmas party at Elm Street Welsh Church.
1941: The Federal Communications Commission request radio stations to refrain from using any sound effects such as blood-curdling screams, sirens and machine guns that may lead listeners to believe an air raid is in progress.
Lenny “Boom Boom” Mancini, Youngstown lightweight boxer who has become a popular attraction for the New York fight crowd, will be inducted into the Army on Jan. 15.
Youngstown’s recent building boom will mean an addition of about $4.4 million to the county’s tax duplicate, according to Mahoning County Auditor George Jones.