Page One

Friday, March 22, is the 81st day of 2002. There are 284 days left in the year. 

Highlight in History: 

On March 22, 1765, Britain enacted the Stamp Act to raise money from the American colonies. (The Act was repealed the following year.) 

On this date:  

In 1820, U.S. naval hero Stephen Decatur was killed in a duel with Commodore James Barron near Washington D.C. 

In 1882, Congress outlawed polygamy. 

In 1895, Auguste and Louis Lumiere showed their first movie to an invited audience in Paris. 

In 1933, during Prohibition, President Roosevelt signed a measure to make wine and beer containing up to 3.2 percent alcohol legal. 

In 1941, the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state went into operation. 

In 1945, the Arab League was formed with the adoption of a charter in Cairo, Egypt. 

In 1946, the British mandate in Transjordan came to an end. 

In 1972, Congress sent the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution to the states for ratification. (It fell three states short of the 38 needed for approval.) 

In 1991, high school instructor Pamela Smart, accused of manipulating her student-lover into killing her husband, was convicted in Exeter, N.H., of murder-conspiracy. 

In 1995, convicted Long Island Rail Road gunman Colin Ferguson was sentenced to life in prison for killing six people. 

Ten years ago: Twenty-seven people were killed when a US-Air jetliner crashed on takeoff from New York’s LaGuardia Airport; 24 people survived. France’s governing Socialist Party was rebuffed in regional elections. President Bush and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl wrapped up a weekend of informal talks by reiterating their resolve to break a deadlock on global trade talks. 

Five years ago: A day after a suicide bomber killed three women in Tel Aviv, Israeli troops clashed with hundreds of Palestinians in Hebron. Tara Lipinski, at age 14 years and ten months, became the youngest women’s world figure skating champion. 

One year ago: An 18-year-old student opened fire at Granite Hills High School in El Cajon, Calif., wounding three classmates and two teachers before he was shot by a police officer. (Jason Hoffman later hanged himself while in jail.) Yevgeny Plushchenko captured the World Figure Skating Championships crown in Vancouver, British Columbia. Animation pioneer William Hanna died in Los Angeles at age 90. 

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Karl Malden is 90. Pantomimist Marcel Marceau is 79. USA Today founder Allen H. Neuharth is 78. Composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim is 72. Actor William Shatner is 71. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is 68. Actor M. Emmet Walsh is 67. Singer-guitarist George Benson is 59. Singer Jeremy Clyde (Chad and Jeremy) is 58. Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is 54. Actress Fanny Ardant is 53. Sportscaster Bob Costas is 50. Country singer James House is 47. Actress Lena Olin is 47. Singer-actress Stephanie Mills is 45. Actor Matthew Modine is 43. Actress Kellie Williams is 26.  

Actress Reese Witherspoon is 26. Rock musician John Otto (Limp Bizkit) is 25.