Years Ago | September 3rd

21 WFMJ archives / September 2, 1986 | Emily Oravecz, 4, and her brother, John, 6, of Warren, waited on the curb with their flags for the Labor Day Parade around Courthouse Square in downtown Warren.
September 3
1999: Mahoning County commissioners are working on the logistics of laying off between 200 and 400 Mahoning County employees, but some of the work sessions appear to violate Ohio's open meetings law.
Sheik Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahjyan, 80, ruler of Abu Dhabi, arrives at the Cleveland Clinic for treatment of an unspecified medical condition, accompanied by an entourage of more than 200, who are staying in 175 rooms of the 9-story Omni International Hotel, which caters to VIPs at the adjacent Cleveland Clinic.
The Columbiana County Farm Bureau celebrates a banner year with 50 new local members and the Ohio Farm Bureau's topping of 200,000 in 1999.
Cleveland Blair, 27, one of the gunmen hired to kill Mahoning Valley mobster Ernie Biondillo, is sentenced to 15 years in a federal prison after cooperating with prosecutors. Others charged have been sentenced to up to life in prison.
1984: After 18 months of studies, reports and workers meetings, the people of Weirton are celebrating Labor Day with the initial success of Weirton Steel as a worker-owned company with some 8,000 employees.
On Labor Day, Vindicator columnist Esther Hamilton remembers when rollers in the mills made $10 for a 12-hour day while "the bosses were fat, wore derbies, and smoked big cigars."
Lightweight IBF champion Harry Arroyo defends his title with a TKO over Charlie "White Lightning" Brown at the Struthers Field House.
1974: Accidents on the nation's highways kill 483 people over the Labor Day holiday weekend.
The question of consolidating four northwestern Trumbull County school districts will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot in those districts following a petition drive by opponents of consolidation.
The five-day attendance at the Canfield Fair, the wettest fair since 1926, totals 384,621.
1949: A Vindicator reporter is bounced from another meeting of Youngstown Communists, who tell him "there is no need for publicity" and show him the door of a South Side restaurant.
Fine weather draws 13,000 people to the second day of the 103rd Canfield Fair, raising the prospect of weekend attendance that will break records.
The Commerce Department reports that sales by independent retailers in the Youngstown district declined during July. Sales were down 14 percent compared to 1948.