Years Ago | June 8th
21 WFMJ archives / June 7, 1975 | A 99-car westbound Penn Central freight train that stalled on a grade southwest of Leetonia 48 years ago was rammed by a coal train. The coal train’s fireman, Richard A. Radzevich, 29, of Braddock, Pa., was killed and four others injured. Damage was estimated at more than a million dollars.
June 8
1998: Julian Bond, national chairman of the NAACP, says during an appearance at Harding High School in Warren that "everywhere we see clear racial fault lines which divide American society as much now as at any time in our past."
Louis J. Parillo, 61, dies in a fire that heavily damaged his home at 211 Euclid St. in New Castle, Pa. Parillo was found at an upstairs window where he was apparently trying to escape the flames and smoke.
Newt Gingrich, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, attends the commencement at Leetonia High School and makes brief remarks during ceremonies that saw 62 graduates receive their diplomas, including Gingrich's nephew, Mark Heddleson.
1983: Youngstown City Council President Pat Ungaro wins a plurality in a five-way race for the Democratic nomination for mayor, edging out his closest competitor, Councilman Robert Spencer, by 88 votes, 11,121 to 11,033.
Warren Mayor Daniel Sferra wins renomination in a five-way race, with 5,208 votes to his nearest challenger, Margaret O’Brien’s 3,109. But the mayor lost clout in city council, where pro-administration candidates largely failed. Sferra had targeted Michael O'Brien, son of Margaret O'Brien, in the fourth ward, where the race is too close to call, with O'Brien and a challenger both getting 502 votes.
Thomas and Kathy Jo Hartman credit a smoke alarm received as a Christmas gift for saving their lives when it sounded in the middle of the night in their historic home at 322 E. Main St. in Canfield. Heavy smoke prevented them from escaping from the first floor; they climbed out a window onto a porch roof and jumped to safety before firefighters arrived.
1973: Canfield City Council proposes cutting the city's 1 percent income tax in half because it appears the tax will produce more than anticipated. Mayor Francis McLaughlin favors a cut to 0.75 percent.
Bishop James W. Malone names Sister Nancy Dawson, OSU, as executive director of Youngstown Diocesan radio and television programs.
The bullet-riddled body of Kenneth Sloan, 42, is found in Beaver Township. It is the second gangland-style slaying in the area in four days. Toby Gibson, 39, was gunned down as he left his Niles-Canfield Road home after receiving a phone call.
1948: Youngstown City Council adopts a 3-mill income tax that will run for 18 months and will cost a worker who earns $2,400 a year about 14 cents a week.
The Youngstown Municipal Railway Co. and Local 272 of the Street Railway Employees Union, AFL, agree to an increase that will raise the hourly pay of 325 drivers from $1.19 to $1.34.
More than 1,600 dogs in suburban Mahoning County have been inoculated against rabies since the Mahoning County Board of Health ordered the inoculations by July 7.