Years Ago | January 4th

Vindicator file photo / January 4, 1995 | Robert Drake, a 5th grader at Kirkmere Elementary, was among the Youngstown students enrolled in a string-music program taught by Brenda Nelson at Volney Rogers Junior High 28 years ago. He said he plays several sports, including football, but plays the violin because it’s fun.
January 4
1998: The production of the Toyota Cavalier at the General Motors Lordstown plant for export to Japan invites a comparison of the two companies by Vindicator staff writer Andrew Welsh-Huggins, who spent two weeks in Japan. The Lordstown plant has 5,900 assembly workers producing 1,400 cars a day and earning an average of $56,000 a year. Toyota's Takaoka plant in Japan has 4,580 workers producing 2,100 cars a day and earning an average of $68,400 a year. Most elected officials in Mahoning County have their phone numbers listed in the phone book, including all seven Youngstown City Council members.
A "Viewpoint" page in The Vindicator reports on the emerging prevalence of white supremacist propaganda on the World Wide Web.
1983: State Sen. Harry Meshel, D-Youngstown, is unanimously elected president of the Ohio Senate.
By a 4-3 vote, the East Liverpool City Council goes on record as opposed to the construction of Waste Technologies Industries' $90 million hazardous waste incinerator on the Ohio River.
The Salem Board of Education unanimously approves an alcohol and drug dependency program for students, the second district in Columbiana County to do so.
1973: The Boardman Fire Department begins the new year with a $50,000 turbine-powered pumper truck. The township has also gotten three new police cruisers, painted in the township colors of maroon and white.
Federal authorities are called in to investigate the theft of $88,500 in food stamps from a safe at Ivy Supply, 121 E. Rayen Ave., the largest burglary of its kind in the state.
Louis Gabriel, 49, of Youngstown, dies of injuries suffered when his car was struck by a Penn-Central switch engine at the Carson-Salt Springs Road crossing between Niles and Warren.
1948: Reserve members of the 11th Air Force's 58th Troop Carrier Squadron at Youngstown Municipal Airport are now flying two-seat AT-6 training planes, but they're hoping to get bigger planes eventually.
Youngstown police raid the Bridge Club, a medium-sized bug headquarters at 624 Oak St.
Youngstown College will increase its auditorium seating capacity from 375 to 850 through a $60,000 remodeling that will move the north wall of the auditorium in the Main Building to within seven feet of the Business School building.