COLUMBUS - The Vietnam War protest that turned to tragedy on the Kent State University campus in May 1970 has been voted as the top Ohio news story of the past 75 years, according to visitors to a special Ohio Newspaper Association anniversary Web site at www.NewspapersMakeHistory.com.
The site displays ONA member newspaper pages describing 75 major news events from 1933 through 2007, in observance of the 75th anniversary of the trade association. ONA's membership includes more than 230 daily and weekly newspapers in Ohio as well as more than 150 newspaper websites.
Ohioans visiting the site were given the opportunity to enter a drawing by voting for the top five news events from those pictured on the site. The site was launched on Oct. 4 and is the last of several events held in 2008 in observance of ONA's anniversary.
According to the voting, these are the top 10 Ohio news events in the past 75 years:
1. Vietnam War protest turns to tragedy at Kent State University (May 1970)
2. Wapakoneta's Neil Armstrong walks on the moon (July 1969)
3. Ohio joins nation in mourning President John F. Kennedy (Nov. 1963)
4. Jesse Owens wins 4 gold medals at Berlin Olympic Games (Aug. 1936)
5. Winter blizzard shuts down most of Ohio (Jan. 1978)
6. Ohio joins war effort after attack on Pearl Harbor (Dec. 1941)
7. Akron's Judith Resnik aboard as space shuttle Challenger explodes (Jan. 1986)
8. Tornado levels Xenia (April 1974)
9. Cleveland Indians win the World Series (Oct. 1948)
10. Nation's worst blackout hits northern Ohio (Aug. 2003)
While not in the top 10, these additional news events received significant votes:
Rounding out the top 20 Ohio events were Cincinnatian Dr. Albert Sabin's development of a polio vaccine (June 1961); Harvey Firestone's tires making Akron the "Rubber Capital" (Feb. 1938); the Cleveland Browns winning the pro football championship (Dec. 1950); the opening of the Ohio Turnpike (Oct. 1955); and Ohio voters passing a statewide ban on smoking (Nov. 2006).
The deadly flood that struck Eastern Ohio in June 1990 was among Ohio's top 75 stories over the past 75 years, according to the ONA listing. The front page of The Times Leader from coverage of that event can be seen through the ONA's Web site dedicated to the top stories. It can be found directly at www.newspapersmakehistory.com/?p=103
Since the Oct. 4 launch of www.NewspapersMakeHistory.com, more than 4,600 people have visited the Web site, including those from 47 different foreign countries. Nearly 59,000 page views have been logged in that time.
The winner of the drawing for those voting on the events is Susan Godzak of Van Buren, Ohio. She was presented a $1,000 check following the Dec. 16 drawing.
Although the voting has concluded, ONA will maintain the Web site through February 2009, which will conclude the one-year observance of the 75th anniversary.
The complete list of 75 Ohio news events and links to the original full pages on which they appeared in newspapers across the state are available by going to www.NewspapersMakeHistory.com.
