WFMJ archives / March 5, 1983 | Sitting across the table from a phalanx of county lawyers,  Mahoning County Sheriff James A. Traficant Jr. waited for his turn to question a witness in the courtroom of  Judge William Houser 40 years ago.  After a one-hour hearing, Houser suspended contempt of court charges against Traficant pending the outcome of a foreclosure sale the sheriff had promised to hold in April.   
 
March 8
 
1998: The YSU Foundation has hit the $100 million mark, making it one of the largest public university endowments in Ohio and allowing it to help more than 2,000 students a year. 
 
With no discussion, Youngstown City Council approves 34 pages of regulations governing group homes that were prepared by a health department committee. 
 
Maj. Gen. James E. Sherrad III presides over the Change of Command Ceremony as Col. Michael Gjede assumes command of the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna from Col. Peter K. Sullivan.   
 
1983: Edward J. DeBartolo, chairman of the board and CEO of the company bearing his name, will receive the Mahoning Valley Businessman of the Year award from the Mahoning Valley Economic Development Corp. U.S. Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, will give the keynote address at the annual banquet. 
 
About 300 people attend the "Y-town is My Town" party in Columbus, many wearing nametags claiming to be Youngstown celebrities such as Jim Traficant, Esther Hamilton, Jack Hunter, Boom Boom Mancini, or Gordon Ward,  whose television appliance commercials made his one of the most recognized names in the Valley. 
 
After deputies refuse to unanimously agree to accept a four-day work week at reduced pay, Trumbull County Sheriff Richard Jakmas announces that 19 deputies will be laid off, saving his department about $250,000.
 
1973: The Salem Chamber of Commerce makes the construction of an indoor community swimming pool a top priority for 1973.
 
Warren Mayor Arthur J. Richards says city water will be extended as a humanitarian gesture to 51 Bazetta Township residents whose wells went dry. 
 
Marguerite Tod Owsley, 57, great-granddaughter of David Tod, Ohio's Civil War governor and wife of Richard P. Owsley, dies at her Delray Beach, Fla., home. 
 
1948: Burglars fail in their attempts to open the safes of three Youngstown cemeteries, Tod, Oak Hill, and Calvary. 
 
The state fire marshal orders Salem to move the city's fire equipment and jail from the 100-year-old city hall, which was condemned as a fire trap seven years ago. 
 
Zoltan Pfeiffer, leader of Hungary's anti-Communist People's Land Party, tells Mahoning Valley Hungarians at the VFW Auditorium that Russian Communism is a "pretense" for "aggressive Russian imperialism."