YEARS AGO FOR FEB. 20

Today is Monday, Feb. 20, the 51st day of 2017. There are 314 days left in the year. This is Presidents Day.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1792: President George Washington signs an act creating the United States Post Office Department.

1862: William Wallace Lincoln, the 11-year-old son of President Abraham Lincoln and first lady Mary Todd Lincoln, dies at the White House, apparently of typhoid fever.

1907: President Theodore Roosevelt signs an immigration act that excludes “idiots, imbeciles, feebleminded persons, epileptics, insane persons” from being admitted to the United States.

1962: Astronaut John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth as he flies aboard Project Mercury’s Friendship 7 spacecraft.

2003: A fire sparked by pyrotechnics broke out during a concert by the group Great White at The Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., killing 100 people and injuring about 200 others.

VINDICATOR FILES

1992: Mahoning County defense lawyers say Prosecutor James Philomena is losing prominent cases – including one on a murder charge, one rape and several other felonies – because the prosecutor is reluctant to negotiate plea bargains and is taking weak cases to trial.

Floyd Kerr, a coaching veteran of more than 20 seasons, is named head coach of the Youngstown Pride in the World Basketball League, replacing Bob Patton, who will become general manager.

Lee Krolopp, 12, of Hubbard, who received a heart transplant in Pittsburgh 11 months ago, is introduced to Heart Association volunteers during a meeting at St. Joseph Riverside Hospital. The sixth grader at St. Patrick Elementary in Hubbard rides a bicycle and plays basketball.

1977: The severity of the weather in the winter of ‘77 has increased auto and property damage claims, but area agents say it is too early to tell if premium rates will rise.

Despite record cold temperatures, work has continued on the $8 million Youngstown Area Post Office on Walnut Street and the building should be ready for use in April.

1967: A festering feud between East and South Side teenage gangs erupts, culminating in the stabbing death of Richard Boone, 16, in the Lincoln Knolls bowling alley.

More than 2,000 members of the Mahoning Presbytery participate in six United Presbyterian events in Youngstown.

Two outbuildings on the old Mahoning County Home property on Herbert Road near Canfield are destroyed in separate fires. Harry Gee, assistant fire chief, says both fires were arson.

Iver W. Cowell, Lake Milton postmaster for 23 years, is named “Man of the Year” by the Lake Milton Chamber of Commerce at the annual awards banquet held at the American Legion Hall.

1942: Youngstown Mayor William B. Spagnola orders Police Chief John Turnbull to crack down on the city’s gangsters after a mob shooting that left one man dead and one wounded on the North Side.

Anyone who indicated a desire to be air-raid wardens when they registered for volunteer civilian-defense work are urged to enroll in classes that will be held at seven schools.

Former Youngstown Mayor Lionel Evans’ status as an American citizen is clarified by action of naturalization. Evans had assumed his naturalization had been taken care of by his family, but no record was found.

About 1,500 enemy aliens have applied at the downtown Youngstown post office for certificates of identification. All nationals of Germany, Italy and Japan 14 years old or older must register if not full citizens.