25 YEARS AGO

It's March 1974. People magazine debuts.

The price of mailing a letter increases to 8 to 10.

In Washington, the grand jury indicts seven Nixon aides for conspiracy on Watergate and concludes that Nixon was involved in the cover-up.

The ironclad USS Monitor, which sank during a Civil War battle, is located off the coast of North Carolina.

The US Senate votes to restore the death penalty.

The streaking fad spreads to Europe. Streakers are seen dashing naked near the Eiffel Tower; in Bournemouth, England; and in Germany.

In the Philippines, Lt. Hiroo Onoda, 52, of the former Japanese Imperial Army comes out of the jungle and surrenders his sword, 29 years after World War II ended.

In London, Princess Anne's limo is forced off the road and fired upon during an attempted kidnapping. Four persons are wounded in the incident. The princess and her husband are not harmed.

Mariner 10 takes the first close-up photos of the planet Mercury.

Chet Huntley dies of cancer at the age of 62.

Construction begins on the new First City National Bank in Owego next to the current bank which will be torn down and replaced with a park.

The Tri Cities Opera performs "Faust" at the Masonic Temple.

Seals and Crofts perform at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.

Project "Dinner Bell" offers its first free hot meal at the Tioga County Boys Club. The meal is for people 60 years or older and is offered three times a week.

Jamesway discount department store opens at the P&C Shopping Plaza in Owego. The opening day festivities include skydivers who drop ping pong balls -- and three male streakers who run the length of the plaza in near-freezing temperatures. It is the first reported incident of streaking in Tioga County. Other streakers have bared it all at BCC and the Vestal Junior High School.

Robert N. Burger, 34, an engineer at IBM, is elected mayor of the Village of Owego.

Tennis, anyone? The Broome Racquet Club in Vestal and the Valley View Racquet Club of Endwell both celebrate grand openings.

The second meal site of Project "Dinner Bell" opens in Newark Valley. A third site will open next month in Waverly.

Top tunes are Seasons in the Sun by Terry Jacks, Spiders and Snakes by Jim Stafford, Dark Lady by Cher, Sunshine on my Shoulders by John Denver, Mockingbird by Carly Simon and James Taylor, Bennie and the Jets by Elton John, and Hooked on a Feeling (the Ooga-Chaga version!) by Blue Swede.

Tuesday night TV shows include "Maude," "Adam-12," "Hawaii Five-O," "Hawkins," and "Marcus Welby, M.D."

Movies playing at local theaters include Marco starring Desi Arnaz, Jr.; The Last Detail with Jack Nicholson; and The Laughing Policeman. The Airport Drive-In re-opens with a triple hit show of Midnight Cowboy starring Jon Voigt and Dustin Hoffman, The Mechanic with Charles Bronson, and White Lightning starring Burt Reynolds.

And a head of lettuce cost 29 cents, a head of cabbage costs 10 cents, and a bunch of celery sets you back a quarter.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!