21 WFMJ archives / July 1, 1983 | Mahoning County Sheriff James A. Traficant Jr. stands behind a table of fireworks at a former gas station in Milton Township that the sheriff and his deputies raided two days before the Fourth of July 40 years ago after undercover agents bought fireworks there.  An estimated $50,000 worth of fireworks were confiscated.

July 2

1998: An interracial group of 700 prayed and sang at Packard Music Hall in a service of racial reconciliation that organizers hope will lead to an ongoing dialogue on community concerns. 

Sam Carbone Jr, a 1997 honors graduate of South Range High School, is slowly recovering from a head injury suffered last July Fourth when a rocket exploded after he lit its fuse. 

The defeat of state Issue 2 in May has jeopardized Ohio’s capital improvement funding, prompting Youngstown State University to delay several building projects. 

1983: Youngstown police raid a Pyatt Street body shop and discover what they said was a chop shop containing $50,000 in stolen vehicles and parts. 

Youngstown area gas stations hike prices by 12 cents per gallon to an average of $1.23 as the Fourth of July holiday approaches. 

Peter Vincent Cascarelli, the former henchman for Youngstown racketeer Little Joey Naples, is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Alvin Krenzler to 17 years in prison on four weapons violations. 

1973: An 18-year-old Warren woman is arrested by city police after she attempts to smuggle three capsules of an unidentified substance to an inmate in the City Jail. The capsules were concealed in a candy bar. 

Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. agrees to advance $175,000 in personal property tax payments to the Campbell City School District to allow the district to make its July payroll.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the median family income has risen above $11,000 for the first time. The median income for white families is $11,550, and for black families, $6,680.

1948: Youngstown will soon have a drunkometer manned by two specially trained patrolmen to test the breath of motorists suspected of drinking and driving. 

Sixteen business establishments in Boardman are ordered by Merle W. Gifford, township fire chief, to discontinue the sale of fireworks.

Five members of Strouss-Hirshberg's management are elected officers of the May Department Stores Co.