TODAY IN HISTORY Today is Saturday, June 9, the 160th day of 2007. There are 205 days left in the year.

ON THIS DATE<$>In 1870, author Charles Dickens died in Gad’s Hill, England.

In 1953, 94 people died when a tornado struck Worcester, Mass.

In 1973, Secretariat became horse racing’s first Triple Crown winner in 25 years by winning the Belmont Stakes.

In 1978, leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints struck down a 148-year-old policy of excluding black men from the Mormon priesthood.

In 1980, comedian Richard Pryor suffered almost fatal burns at his San Fernando Valley, California, home when a mixture of “free-base” cocaine exploded.

In 1985, American educator Thomas Sutherland was kidnapped in Lebanon; he was released in November 1991 with fellow hostage Terry Waite.

In 1986, the Rogers Commission released its report on the Challenger disaster, criticising NASA and rocket-builder Morton Thiokol for management problems leading to the explosion that claimed the lives of seven astronauts.Thought for Today> “Be the inferior of no man, nor of any be the superior. Remember that every man is a variation of yourself. No man’s guilt is not yours, nor is any man’s innocence a thing apart.” — William Saroyan, American playwright (1908-1981).