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Service held for lad who lost life at front

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

99 years ago in 1918:

l Memorial services for local veteran, Dewey Burr, the first Trumbull County lad to meet death in action at the front, were to be held in Bristolville.

All the members of the Veterans Association led by E.W. Skinner and “any persons willing to furnish machines for the trip” were expected to attend.

The members were to meet at the armory, a newly organized veterans body of 40 members. The election of officers of the organization was to be postponed and to take place at a regular meeting in three weeks.

l A series of bicycle thefts was growing in volume and causing police officials “much concern.” Eight wheels were stolen in one week.

Two wheels were stolen, an Iver Johnson, belonging to the Warren & Niles Telephone Company, and the other, a brown and white wheel, was owned by Lawrence Nelson, Lincoln Avenue, taken from the front of the opera house.

The epidemic began with two citizens, one on Belmont and one on South Main Street, that had bicycles stolen from where they had “parked” them. The police record showed a stolen bicycle on may May 13, May 18 and May 29. There were no more thefts until June 9. Another theft occurred on the 12th and two on the 17th.

50 years ago in 1967:

l Flames visible for miles drew hundreds of spectators and made traffic a sticky situation for Trumbull deputies and Ohio State Patrolmen.

Firefighters from eight area fire units prevented a major catastrophe when a gasoline tank truck exploded at the Standard Oil bulk storage plant, on U.S. Route 422, east of state Route 46. The driver, released after treatment at Trumbull Memorial Hospital for second-degree burns of both arms, was unloading the truck when the 8,800-gallon capacity, three-compartment tanker carrying an estimated 3,000 gallons of gasoline exploded. A Standard Oil spokesman estimated the damages at $50,000 including $10,000 to $15,000 at the dock, and the remainder to the truck.

Firemen from McKinley Heights, Howland, Niles, Cortland, Liberty, Warren Township, Champion and Bazetta, along with a foam chemical truck from the Youngstown Air Reserve Station, on scene within a matter of minutes confined the blaze to the loading dock area, preventing it from spreading to the bulk storage tanks.

l A Youngstown man arrested in May was held on a charge under $25,000 bond for a theft of chump change.

A man charged with robbing the Girard Federal Savings & Loan Assn. pleaded guilty in federal court in Cleveland. Assistant U.S. attorney Harold E. Pickering said the man, formerly of Pittsburgh, walked into the bank and grabbed two money bags, containing $100 in pennies.

25 years ago in 1992:

l Residents in Cortland were “spinning their wheels and turning up their heels” in preparation for the Great Lakes Regional Roller Skating Competition in Trumbull County.

The Cortland Roller Rink bid for and won the right to host the 1992 competition.

Jim DiGiacobbe, who had owned the rink since 1969, said it would be the first regional held in the area. The more than 2,000 competitors and their families were to stay in local motels and houses in the area.

“I was worried about that, but the (Trumbull County) convention bureau was very helpful in providing the necessary information.”

The Cortland Roller Rink expected to have some of its own artistic skating club competing in the meet featuring figure skating, freestyle, dance and speed skating competitions.

l A crowd was expected at the Mahoning Valley Rib Burn Off. The ribs competition in the parking lot of the Eastwood Mall was the largest collection of rib vendors between Cleveland and Pittsburgh and, with the addition of a fourth day, organizer Dominic Baragona expected to draw 40,000 to 50,000 people and had to turn away top name rib businesses.

“We turned away a couple of national companies we’d love to have,” he said.

The 15 vendors expected to increase selling more ribs, many said, then they did in Cleveland events. The top prize of $1,000 and free entry the following year was awarded for the Best Ribs. Along with the food, entertainment included performers from the Funny Farm Comedy Club in Liberty.

10 years ago in 2007:

l Chautauqua 2007 featured history surrounding World War II and local entertainment, including Stephen Foster Barber Shop Chorus, the Cortland Community Band with the Cortland Veterans of Foreign Wars post scheduled to present the colors before the performance, the folk duo Wild Carrot, the Roberts Sisters and Girard Community’s Swing Band.

Bobbie Brown, director of the Fine Arts Council of Trumbull County, said, “We couldn’t be more pleased with the variety of performers.”

Brown had spent months answering artists’ and sponsors’ questions, dealing with delays involved in the public art project — the Spectacle of Speed Goddesses, six foot-tall figures unveiled at the event at the Warren Community Amphitheatre following Chautauqua events at the Kinsman House.

It was the only time 35 of the 36 sculptures were seen together before the display of the figures throughout Trumbull County that summer.

l A Cortland teen’s project in cooperation with the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office and local police collected over 1,000 stuffed animals for young victims of disaster.

“Operation Patrol Pals,” 15-year-old Jenna DiPizzo’s project, distributed new and gently used stuffed animals through area police departments to child victims of accidents, fires and trauma.

DiPizzo, inspired by a fire in the family’s garage four years before, which she said affected her young twin-siblings, collected through 4H and Bazetta and Lakeview elementary schools.

“I thought it was a great idea, and she really took off with it. It’s important because young people often get a bad rap, and here’s one doing something really great,” Rocco Vadala, administrator at the sheriff’s office, said.

— Compiled from Tribune Chronicle archives by Emily Earnhart

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