21 WFMJ archives  / December 1950 | City sidewalks were busy sidewalks as Christmas approached in this photo of West Federal Street in Youngstown 74 years ago. 

December 15


1999: Mark Batcho, a mob hitman who wounded but did not kill Mahoning County prosecutor-elect Paul Gains three years ago, is sentenced to 18 years in prison by visiting Judge Richard M. Markus.  

Mahoning Common Pleas Judge Maureen Cronin rules that developer Joseph Koch can land his helicopter at the Brocker Field in Canfield. Cronin ruled that an earlier court ruling limiting the use of the airstrip to single- and twin-engined propeller-driven aircraft was broad enough to allow helicopters. 

Charles Shultz, the 77-year-old creator of the "peanuts" comics strip, announces his retirement effective Jan. 4, 50 years after the strip debuted. 


1984: Youngstown State University will seek developers interested in converting the historic Pollock House into a "university inn."

Commercial Shearing Inc., one of Youngstown's major fabricators, enjoyed a turnaround in fiscal 1984, with sales increasing more than 21 percent to $205 million from the previous year. 

The Youngstown Hospital Association announces no plans to increase its room rates of $175 per day for a semi-private room in the new year. 


1974: The Youngstown Hospital Association is preparing to shut down the North and South units in anticipation of a strike by nurses set for Dec. 23. 

Four people walk away from separate airplane mishaps in Mahoning County on one day. A plane flipped during takeoff from Miller Airport near Beloit, and another was forced to land in a cornfield off 1-76 near Lipkey Road.  

About 100 people gather in Youngstown's Federal Plaza to hear speakers denounce anti-busing violence in Boston and to call for quality education for all children throughout the nation. 


1949: A.P. Steckel, inventor of a process for cold-rolling steel, contributes stock valued at $10,000 to the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra to find a permanent home for its performance. 


A new policy for Youngstown department stores, the inauguration of a five-day work week, is announced for employees of the G.M. McKelvey Co. 


Charles J. Kurtz, 35, formerly of Youngstown, is among 16 people killed in the explosion of a packing plant at Sioux City, Iowa.