25 Years Ago

It's June 1981. Pope John Paul II, 61,  is released from the hospital three weeks after he was shot.

 President Reagan meets with Mexican President Jose Lopez Portillo to discuss US-Mexican issues including illegal immigration.

 The Center for Disease Control's weekly bulletin describes cases of a rare  pneumonia  in five young men, all homosexuals. (This is the first report of what will become known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or simply AIDS.)

 At the 35th Annual Tony Awards, Amadeus is chosen as best play.

 Will it be a summer without baseball? The Major League's 650 players go on strike over a labor dispute with owners concerning the free-agent system. 

 The movie Superman II breaks box office records. 

 In London, a teenager fires several blanks at Queen Elizabeth as she rides a horse during the Trooping the Color Ceremony.

 Game show host Allen Ludden, 63, dies.

 In Los Angeles, more than 10,000 immigrants are sworn in as American citizens in a single ceremony.

 Prince Andrew celebrates his 21st birthday with a party for 500 guests at Windsor Castle.

 The Owego-Apalachin School District's budget is defeated by 12 votes, 488 to 500.

 Stateline Auto Auction opens in Waverly. 

 An Owego bank is robbed when a man pulls up to the drive-in window, claims he has a bomb, and demands $5,000. He escapes with more than $4,000. 

  A Grand Opening is held at Steve Scoville dealership in Owego.

 In Owego, Ernie Wunder, 67, celebrates 50 years as a cook at Conway's Club Diner on North Avenue.

 GAF announces that it is selling its reprographic division. The company has facilities in Vestal, Johnson City, and Binghamton.

 Owego holds its first Strawberry Festival on June 27. The event includes a parade and the selection of a Strawberry Queen. 

 Tuesday night TV shows include Lobo, Walter Cronkite's Universe, Happy Days, NOVA, LaVerne & Shirley, Flo, Three's Company, Mystery (with Rumpole of the Bailey), Too Close for Comfort, Hill Street Blues, Nero Wolfe, and Hart to Hart.

 On "The Barbara Walters Special" of June 2, Katherine Hepburn remarks that she would like to be a tree. Walters then asks her, "What kind of tree?" 

 Top selling books include Goodbye Janette by Harold Robbins, and Miss Piggy's Guide to Life by Miss Piggy as told to Henry Beard.

 Movies playing in local theaters include Raiders of the Lost Ark, History of the World - Part I, Clash of the Titans, The Four Seasons,  Superman II, For Your Eyes Only, Dragonslayer, and The Great Muppet Caper, and Outland.

 Top tunes include Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes, Sukiyaki by A Taste of Honey, A Woman Needs Love by Ray Parker Jr & Raydio, and All those Years Ago by George Harrison.

 This month's Popular Science  includes the article "Flat-screen TV - almost here?" According to the  article, "most experts believe large, hang-on-the-wall color-TV panels won't be ready until the second half of this decade." Sony's 30-inch-diagonal CRT TV weighs 275 pounds and costs more than $8,000. The  "What's New" section of the magazine mentions RCA's 50-inch-diagonal front projection TV which costs $3,200.

 A Pioneer Laser Disc player (on which you can watch full-length movies) costs $749, and a Hitachi VIP-1000 videodisc player costs $500.