21 WFMJ archives / March 16, 1983 | A $2 million fire believed to have been caused by an electrical short leveled the Tippecanoe Clubhouse 40 years ago, but before the smoke had cleared, officers of the 370-member club vowed to rebuild.

March 15 

1998: People who moved from Youngstown to Boardman decades ago are now moving further south and the Ohio Department of Agriculture's Office of Farm Preservation is concerned about farms in southern Mahoning and northern Columbiana counties. 

Organizers are seeking as many as 2,000 volunteers to build Tiger Town, a $150,000 playground in Howland Park. 

Youngstown Mayor George McKelvey ends the practice of paying union employees out-of-rank pay when a supervisor is out for the day.  McKelvey says the city is not required to continue a practice that added $2,100 to the payroll in December.

1983: A moratorium on federal farm foreclosures would be misused by some farmers and would be unfair to farmers who borrow from other sources, says David O. Miller of Newark, president of the Ohio Federation of Farmers. 

The Reagan administration's campaign to eliminate federal operating subsidies for urban bus and rail systems would threaten the survival of the Western Reserve Transit Authority, says executive director Scott Sussman. 

Three men escape to a waiting car after disarming a guard and robbing the South Side branch of the Dollar Savings & Trust Co. The getaway car was abandoned near South Park, where city police picked up three young men. They were released after explaining that they only ran from police because they were skipping school.

1973: The 23-year-old Louisiana mother of a baby abandoned in the toilet of an airliner at Youngstown Municipal Airport has been charged with attempted murder.  She is seeking custody of the child. 

Fred Gronvall, president of the Downtown Board of Trade, announces that Jerry Lee's Jewelry and the Vogue Shop have joined the Saturday Free Bus program. Downtown shoppers who buy $5 or more from any of 18 stores ride free. 

Youngstown Mayor Jack C. Hunter says Lake Milton dam might be demolished if there is no money to repair it. 

1948: A plane carrying U.S. Sen. Robert A. Taft, R-Ohio, on a campaign swing through Maine crashes on the ice-covered Kennebec River, but the GOP presidential candidate escapes injury. 

Capt. George Poschner, former Chaney High and Georgia University grid star who lost his legs in the last war, is honored by sports fans and given $3,296 raised in WFMJ Radio's "Singing Sportsman" contest. 

Dr. Paul W. Gauss, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church of Youngstown, declares that the Supreme Court is 100 years behind times in its decision to bar religious instruction in public schools.