21 WFMJ archives / July 9,  1997 | Vindicator photographer Bill Lewis caught Jamar Woods, 7, in mid-jump during the Youngstown Park and Recreation Summer Program at Wick Park 28 years ago.

July 9

2000: Trumbull County is marking its 200th birthday, beginning with a Founders Day Festival on Warren's Courthouse Square. 

A 20-foot-long cabin cruiser exploded on Berlin Lake, sending three women into the water. Nearby boaters pulled them to safety. All were hospitalized with burns. 

Youngstown businessman Bruce Zoldan credits U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. with winning congressional approval for a $25 million grant for a downtown Youngstown arena. The funding still needs President Bill Clinton's approval. 

 

1985: The state controlling board approves a $4 million loan to Davis International Inc. of Youngstown, which is renovating the unused Commuter Aircraft Corp. plant at Youngstown Municipal Airport for use by the Packard Electric Division of General Motors. 

Al Unser Jr. wins the Cleveland Indy Car Grand Prix after the car of leader Mario Andretti caught fire with three laps to go. Al Unser Sr. finished third, behind Geoff Brabham. 

About 130 residents of Hubbard meet with U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. to air their complaints about the response of government and insurance companies to losses suffered by individuals and businesses. 

 

1975: Pittsburgh-Canfield Corp. pays a $500 fine to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for killing 3,800 fish when an effluent containing cyanide was released into Saw Mill Creek. 

Members of the striking carpenters' union in the tri-county area accept a 65-cent-per-hour wage package. The three-year pact contains a no-strike clause. 

David Tobin received his juris doctorate degree from Ohio Northern Law School and will join the family firm in East Liverpool that was founded in 1932 by his father, the late Judge Louis Tobin.    

 

1950: Youngstown Police Chief Edward Allen tells U.S. Sen. Estes Kefauver that a highly placed Washington politician with White House connections is blocking the prosecution of a Detroit Purple Gang racketeer who is trying to establish himself in Youngstown.  

If war were to come, Youngstown would have about 1,500 men in the National Guard and military service units available, but Youngstown's Civil Defense would be caught with its dukes down. 

John Thomas Scopes was a 25-year-old biology teacher in Tennessee in 1925 when he was tried for breaking a law prohibiting the teaching of evolution. Twenty-five years later, he lives in Louisiana, where he is a geologist for an oil company.