Years Ago | September 8th

21 WFMJ archives / September 9, 1988 | For the first time in its 67-year history, Villa Maria admitted boys to the preparatory school in Villa Maria, Pa. That first co-ed class 36 years ago included Ken Shick, Bill Sniezek, William Waddington, and Adam Burick; back, Dave Flannery, Andrew Dugan, Jerry Burgo, Mark Hildack, Gregory Kelch, Jason Hall, Keith McPhail, and Dan Hinge.
September 8
1999: DMS Engineering of France and Butech Inc. of Salem will share the cost of buying Bliss-Salem Inc. in a $5.75 million deal to save at least 45 local jobs.
Two of U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant's challengers offer harsh assessments of the incumbent. George Tablack compares Traficant to the captain of a tug boat on a burning river, and Robert Hagan says Traficant has used his office as "a lounge for the mob" rather than "an engine that creates jobs."
A 26-year-old Mahoning County deputy sheriff is on paid administrative leave pending an investigation after Sheriff Randall Wellington is told the deputy had illegal gambling at his pre-wedding stag party at the Shangri-La Hall in Green Township.
1984: The Mahoning Valley Chapter of Pearl Harbor Survivors hosts 100 members of the statewide organization at their annual convention at the Holiday Inn North.
A 25-year-old Youngstown man sought by police on a charge of criminal damaging leads police on a six-minute chase through Mill Creek Park that ends with him suffering fatal injuries when his Lincoln Continental skidded off East Cohasset and rammed into a tree.
The U.S. Postal Rate Commission recommends increasing the cost of a first-class stamp to 22 cents.
1974: Youngstown Osteopathic Hospital had a net loss of $291,000 in 1973, which Atty. Richard Fine, the hospital's director, says it results from government controls on what hospitals can bill but not what hospital suppliers can charge.
The Dana Hotel on North Park Avenue in Warren, which served as a dormitory for the Dana Institute of Music until 1941, will be razed. The 36-room hotel was heavily damaged in a July fire.
Arnold Masino, 76, of Uniontown, Ohio, is one of only eight authentic organ grinders in the nation. He is at the Canfield Fair with his 16-year-old capuchin monkey, Sir Richard Burton.
1949: A mysterious blast damages the home of an elderly couple in West Hubbard, identical to a still-unexplained explosion that damaged a neighboring home four weeks earlier.
Howard Unruh, 28, a shy, bible-reading war veteran, runs amok in Camden, N.J., killing 13 people, including boys 2, 6, and 9 years old, and wounding three others with a Lugar pistol holding an 8-round magazine. He retreated to his apartment and surrendered after police fired tear gas into it.
The trial of John Farah, the Jungle Inn gambling boss who was charged with assault on two Vindicator men, ends with a hung jury. Nine jurors voted to convict.