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Railroad accident claims three lives

This week in history

99 years ago in 1921:

Three men, two former Warren residents and a third that was still unidentified, were killed in a railroad accident at Hinton, West Virginia, according to a letter from that place received by Chief of Police Gillen.

The local men, Charles Wise and Solomon Shelton, lived in Warren for several years and had a number of friends here. Wise roomed at 12 South street and Shelton at 105 South street.

The word received by Chief Gillen did not give any details of the accident or state when it occurred. It was presumed it was early in the week.

Identification of the two was made through papers found in their pockets, but there was noting to give Hinton authorities any trace of their relatives. In a pocket of Wise’s coat one of Police Chief Gillen’s cards was found and in the hope that information regarding their relatives could be obtained from him word was sent here. Wise had been living in Tallahassee, Florida.

Neither of the men had relatives in Warren, police said after making an investigation.

50 years ago in 1970:

Women were to spearhead the campaigning in a totally new division of United Appeal of Trumbull County when the drive for $916,581 opened, expected the following month.

James Rinehart, UA campaign chairman, announced Mrs. I.A. Oehler was to be chairman of a new Women’s Division which was to be responsible for countywide solicitations of women not employed; all clubs and organizations, both men and women’s groups, and selected areas not canvassed.

The women’s Division was to hold a “Coffee” at First Methodist Church, Warren. All women in the county interested in the work of United Appeal were invited to attend.

Mrs. Oehler entertained key members of the division at a luncheon at the Trumbull Country Club at times organizational guidelines were set.

25 years ago in 1995:

More than 30 union pickets outside WCI Steel Inc’s Pine Street gate formed a human blockade enforcing an agreement of “Nothing in, nothing out” as both sides prepared to meet for the first time with a federal mediator.

Still, union leaders told hundreds of workers gathered at Packard Music Hall to prepare for a stoppage as long as three to four months.

As the protesting union members blocked a tractor trailer rig from entering the plant, J.C. McKelvin said the union should have stopped all traffic from the beginning.

“We should not have allowed them to take anything either steel or the scabs, in or out of the plant in the first place,” said McKelvin, a 54-year-old steelworker with 36 years experience.

“We should not compromise with them (management) at all. We’ve compromised enough. We will stay out here as long as it takes.”

As the work stoppage ground into its 15th day, both sides seemed energized by an accident in which picket Walter Mintus was injured.

WCI spokesmen said discussions were underway on how to make gates at the company safer for everyone.

10 years ago in 2010:

Delphi Corp. salaried retirees’ fight to regain their full pension received a boost with the announcement of an independent investigation into whether the U.S. Treasury “pressured” General Motors to treat workers differently during its bankruptcy case the previous year.

In addition, local Delphi Packard Electric retirees had visited House Minority Leader John Boehner in his West Chester office, just north of Cincinnati, to discuss another investigation.

Neil Barofsky, who was the special inspector general for the federal government’s Troubled Assets Relief Program, said he would look into Treasury’s decision to allow Delphi’s pension plans to be taken over by federal insurer Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

The aim of the probe was to determine if “political considerations played a role” in the decision to turn the plans over to the PBGC.

Delphi’s salaried pensions in all covered more than 20,000 retirees, surviving spouses and active workers. Union workers at Delphi received full pensions after GM agreed to pay the difference between what the PBGC paid and what the retirees owed.

Area Delphi Packard salaried retirees praised the Government Accountability Office an additional investigation requested by Boehner and U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.

“We can’t afford to let this happen to folks who have done the right thing all their lives and played by the rules by being productive members of our communities and country,” Mary Ann Hudzik, a Warren resident, said.

— Compiled from the archives of the Tribune Chronicle by Emily Earnhart

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