25 Years Ago

by Beverly Brown

It's December 1974. A 727 jet crashes into a mountain in Virginia during a heavy rain storm, killing 92 people.

The wine industry has five years to go metric (liters now, not "fifths").

Wilbur Mills resigns as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee after revelation of his relationship with stripper Fanne Foxe.

Georgia governor Jimmy Carter, 50, announces he will seek the Democratic nomination for President in 1976.

Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as the 41st Vice President of the United States. This is the first time in American history that neither the President nor Vice President has been elected to their office.

Ford dedicates the Bicentennial Freedom Train in Alexandria, Virginia.

On Christmas Day, a young man wearing an Arab headdress crashes his car through the northwest gate of the White House at 7:00 am. He claims he is wired with explosives and keeps police at bay for four hours until he finally surrenders.

Jack Benny, 80, dies of cancer of the pancreas. He was diagnosed with the disease just a week ago. More than 2,000 people turn out for Benny's funeral service in Culver City near Hollywood.

In Olean, New York, a 17-year-old student goes on a 90-minute shooting spree at the Olean High School. Armed with at least three rifles, the student shoots and kills three people, and wounds 11 others before the police subdue him with tear gas.

In Owego, Dr. George Pritchard, 47, dies suddenly. Owego's mayor describes the physician as "one of the most popular people in Owego."

Tioga County is formally designated as a "Bicentennial Community."

Pennsylvania's minimum wage is raised from $1.60 to $1.90 an hour. It will be raised to $2.00 an hour on January 1, 1975.

The Spot Players in Owego perform the musical The Little Match Girl at the Tioga Theatre. The performers include teachers, students, and adults under the direction of Owego Free Academy teacher Stephen Day.

A band of shoplifters hits Jamesway in Owego. The two men and three women flee with $150 worth of merchandise.

A teenaged boy wearing a ski mask attempts to rob a grocery store near the OFA. The boy flees when the owner pulls out a club that she keeps near her cash register.

A Christmas snowfall brings five inches of snow.

The Union-Endicott High School showband appears in the 1974 King Orange Jamboree Parade in Miami.

St. Patrick's School at 58 Oak Street in Binghamton is torn down because it costs $9,000 a year to maintain the 63-year-old building.

Applications for unemployment benefits this month are double what they were last month. At the unemployment office on Front Street in Owego, the line of people stretches out onto the sidewalk.

James Ayers is sworn in as Tioga County Sheriff. His salary is $14,500 a year.

Thursday night TV shows include The Waltons, The Odd Couple, Paper Moon, Harry O, and The Streets of San Francisco.

Top tunes include Cats in the Cradle by Harry Chapin; Angie Baby by Helen Reddy; Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas; and You're the First, the Last, My Everything by Barry White.

Movies at local theaters include My Name is Nobody; The Man with the Golden Gun starring Roger Moore as James Bond; Disney's The Island at the Top of the World and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too; The Godfather, Part II; The Front Page; The Little Prince; and The Towering Inferno ("the world's tallest building is on fire. You are there on the 135th floor . . . no way down . . . no way out.") starring Steve McQueen (as the Fire Chief), Paul Newman (as the architect), Faye Dunaway, Fred Astaire, Richard Chamberlain, Susan Blakely, Robert Wagner, and O. J. Simpson;.

Have a Merry Christmas. See you in '75!