Vindicator file photo / January 9, 1966 | Ten student barbers made up the first graduating class of the 18-month apprentice training offered by Barber Local 84 at Choffin Vocational School in Youngstown 56 years ago. Back row, from left, Vincent Pompili, chairman of the apprentice committee; Philip Leone; Richard Seiple, assistant secretary of the union; Joe Hughes; Richard LoSasso, secretary-treasurer; Anthony Quinn; William Hiner, Mike Infante, vice president; Tony Tillet, John Braunstein; N.E. Colla Jr., president;  Kip Powell, chairman of apprentice training;  Front, from left, Frank Centofanti; Louis C. Rascineto; Wayne Camacci; Ernest Snyder,  chairman of the advisory committee; Prof. Fred Beede, past principal of Choffin; John Varso and Raymond Constance.
 
January 7
 
1998: Youngstown's East High School will be converted into a middle school, and Lincoln and John White elementaries will be closed under the latest reorganization plan.
 
Membership in IUE Local 717 at Delphi Packard Electric Systems has fallen to 7,200 after 875 workers took an early retirement offer in 1997.
 
Two new Beaver Township trustees, Larry Wehr and Kim Ohlin start the new year off by firing Police Chief David Thorsen, a move that drew the ire of several residents. 
 
1983: The U.S. Justice Department is asking $108 million in fines for pollution from LTV Corp., a move that might force its subsidiary, Jones & Laughlin Steel, to abandon its plan to invest $150 million in its Campbell Works coke plant. 
 
David Chuirazzi, a junior at Poland Seminary High School, has won first place in the 8th District VFW  Voice of Democracy contest.
 
Ohio Bell is increasing the cost of a local call on a pay phone to 25 cents.   
 
1973: Sharon Steel Corp. will build a new $10 million, 150-ton basic oxygen furnace at its Farrell Works.
 
Dr. Edward Largent Jr., assistant professor of music at Youngstown State University, is awarded a doctorate of philosophy degree in music theory at Ohio State University. 
 
Daniel Koker, a 1962 Ursuline graduate who joined the Los Angeles Police Department in October, is named the Wilshire Division Officer of the Month for reacting to cries of help he heard while on patrol by diving into a swimming pool and saving a drowning 8-year-old girl. 
 
1948: Many Youngstown homes with oil-fired furnaces are going cold and will be joined by more because of a fuel oil shortage over which local distributors have no control. 
 
Between 15 and 20, Youngstown area racketeers have been spotted in Erie, Pa., after being driven out of Youngstown by the new police chief, Edward Allen. Allen had been a detective sergeant in the Erie department. 
 
President Harry Truman recommends statehood for Alaska and Hawaii.