21 WFMJ archives / August 22, 1995 | Host families of children from Chernobyl who spent much of the summer 28 years ago in the Mahoning Valley wave as the last plane takes off from the Warren-Youngstown Regional Airport, taking them home.

August 21

1998: Youngstown mayor George McKelvey, a member of the state commission overseeing city schools, has not attended a meeting in five months. He said the commission did not give much weight to his point of view at the meetings he attended, and he is considering joining the elected Youngstown Board of Education in a lawsuit challenging the commission's existence. 

An adult day care center will open on Aug. 31 at the former St. Joseph Riverside Hospital building while the owner of the building continues to seek a variance that would allow a commercial laundry to operate there. 

Water samples show at least nine chemicals washed away from the Century 21 paint store fire in Austintown into the Mill Creek watershed, but none in concentrations high enough to cause alarm. 

1983: Julian Suso, director of the Youngstown Revitalization Foundation, says developers appear willing to build apartments or residential condominiums in downtown Youngstown, but he has to conduct a survey of downtown workers to see if they are interested in living near where they work. 

Harry Shores of Niles has built a collection of letters written by famed magician Harry Houdini who died in 1926.

Facing a deficit of $60,000, Canfield City officials are discussing a separation from Canfield Township. 

1973: The base salary for Austintown teachers will go to $7,100 if the Austintown Education Association ratifies a new contract. 

A 14-year-old Boulder, Colo., boy is stripped of his crown as winner of the Soap Box Derby in Akron after derby officials discovered that his car contained an ingenious electromagnetic device that helped launch the vehicle down Derby Hill. 

1948: An 18-year-old boy from Youngstown convicted of killing William C. Spieth of Ashtabula goes to his death in Ohio's electric chair with the repentant sobs of "I'm sorry, my God. Oh, Father, have mercy" on his lips.  Donald Frohmer is pronounced dead at 9:09 p.m., eight minutes after the electricity coursed through his body. He was the eighth teenager to be executed for murder in Ohio, the youngest being Floyd Hewitt, 16, in 1928.

Local boxer Tommy Bell kayos Irish Mickey Doyle, touted Cleveland brawler, with a thundering left hook in the second stanza of a 10-round feature attended by 1,942 at Idora Park.