Don's 80's Corner

Murder of Adam Walsh

2008-12-19T01:48:00.000-08:00

Adam John Walsh (November 14, 1974 – circa July 27, 1981) was an American boy who was abducted from a Sears department store at the Hollywood Mall in Hollywood, Florida, on July 27, 1981, and later found murdered. Adam's death earned national publicity, and Adam's father, John Walsh, later became an advocate for victims of violent crime and the host of the television program America's Most Wanted.^[1]

Convicted serial killer Ottis Toole confessed to the boy's murder but was never tried for the crime. Although no new evidence has come forth, on December 16, 2008, police announced that the Walsh case was now closed as they were satisfied that Toole was the murderer of Adam Walsh. Ottis Toole had died of liver failure on September 15, 1996.

Kidnapping

On Monday, July 27, 1981, Adam's mother, Revé, let him watch a small group of older boys play video games at a Sears store in Hollywood, Florida, while she walked a few aisles away to shop for a lamp. When Revé returned to the video game section, she was frightened to find that Adam was not there. She then told a Sears associate, who announced over the intercom for Adam to meet his mother at one of the information desks. Revé later said that she had no confidence that Adam would be able to locate the desks. Adam and his mother were never reunited. There are claims that a security guard threw the children out of the store for bickering over the video game, and perhaps Adam was confused and thought he had to leave too. Investigators think Adam had been mistakenly associated with a group of older children who were causing trouble and told to leave the shopping mall. It is suspected that Adam was abducted near the front exterior of the store after the other boys went on their way.^[3]^[4]

Adam's severed head was found in a Vero Beach, Florida canal on August 10, 1981; the rest of his remains have never been recovered.^[2]

Aftermath

Adam's kidnapping and murder prompted John Walsh, to become an advocate for victims' rights and helped to spur the formation of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). As a result of his advocacy, he was approached to host the television program America's Most Wanted.

The Code Adam program for helping lost children in department stores is named in Walsh's memory.

The U.S. Congress passed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act on July 25, 2006, and President Bush signed it into law on July 27, 2006. The signing ceremony took place on the South Lawn of the White House, where leaders from both sides of the political spectrum joined John and Revé Walsh. The bill institutes a national database of convicted child molesters, increases penalties for sexual and violent offenses against children.^[5] It also creates a RICO course of action for child predators and those who conspire with them.^[6]

Suspects

Jeffrey Dahmer, arrested in Wisconsin in 1991 after killing more than a dozen men and boys, was also named as a suspect in the Walsh murder. Some have suggested a Dahmer link to the case for many years, but the allegations earned widespread publicity only in early 2007. Dahmer was living in Miami Beach at the time Adam was murdered and two eyewitnesses place him at the shopping mall on the day that Adam was abducted. Dahmer preyed on young men and boys (the youngest being eight years older than Adam), and his modus operandi included severing his victims' heads. Since this rumor has surfaced John Walsh has said that he has "seen no evidence linking his son's unsolved kidnapping and slaying to serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer."^[7]

Ottis Toole, repeatedly confessed and then retracted accounts of his involvement. Toole, allegedly a confidante of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, was never charged in the Walsh case, even though he provided seemingly accurate descriptions on how he had committed this crime. Police investigated Toole for the Walsh murder, but lost important evidence in the case, including the bloodstained carpet from the car interior, and then the entire car itself.^[2] In September 1996, Toole died in prison of cirrhosis of the liver while serving a life sentence for other crimes. Afterwards, Toole's niece told John Walsh that her uncle made a deathbed confession to the murder of Adam.^[2] Toole's confession, however, had been viewed with skepticism by many, since he and Henry Lucas confessed to or implicated themselves in over 200 different homicides, many of which it has been proven they did not commit.^[8]

Case closed in 2008

Although no new evidence was presented, on December 16, 2008, the Hollywood, Florida Police Chief Chad Wagner announced, with John Walsh present, that the case was now closed. An external review of the case had been conducted and police announced that they were satisfied that Ottis Toole was the murderer.^[2]^[9]^[10]^[8]

Movies

Adam's disappearance and his family's struggle were dramatized in a 1983 NBC television movie, Adam^[11] (also known as Find My Child), with actors Daniel J. Travanti and JoBeth Williams portraying Adam's parents. In 1986, the movie was followed up with the sequel, Adam: His Song Continues. The real John Walsh appeared at the conclusion of the broadcast to publicize photos of other kidnapped children, years before hosting America's Most Wanted.^[12]^[13]^[14]^[15]

Ronald Reagan

2008-09-07T21:03:00.000-07:00

Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975). Born in Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s, where he was an actor, president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and a spokesman for General Electric (GE). His start in politics occurred during his work for GE; originally a member of the Democratic Party, he switched to the Republican Party in 1962. After delivering a rousing speech in support of Barry Goldwater's presidential candidacy in 1964, he was persuaded to seek the California governorship, winning two years later and again in 1970. He was defeated in his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 as well as 1976, but won both the nomination and election in 1980.
As president, Reagan implemented bold new political and economic initiatives. His supply side economic policies, dubbed "Reaganomics", included substantial tax cuts implemented in 1981. In his first term he survived an assassination attempt, took a hard line against organized labor, and ordered military actions in Grenada. He was reelected in a landslide in 1984. Reagan's second term was primarily marked by foreign matters, namely the ending of the Cold War, the bombing of Libya, and the revelation of the Iran-Contra affair. The president had previously ordered a massive military buildup in an arms race with the Soviet Union, forgoing the strategy of détente. He publicly portrayed the USSR as an "evil empire" and supported anti-Communist movements worldwide. He negotiated with Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, resulting in the INF Treaty and the decrease of both countries' nuclear arsenals.
Reagan left office in 1989; in 1994 the former president disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease earlier in the year. He died ten years later at the age of ninety-three, and ranks highly among former U.S. presidents in terms of approval rating.

During his Presidency, Ronald Reagan pursued policies that reflected his personal belief in individual freedom, brought changes domestically, both to the U.S. economy and expanded military, and contributed to the end of the Cold War. The "Reagan Revolution", proponents claimed, would reinvigorate American morale, and reduce the people's reliance upon government. As president, Reagan kept a series of diaries in which he commented about daily occurrences of his presidency and his views on current issues, frequently mentioning his wife, Nancy. The diaries were published in May 2007 into the bestselling book, The Reagan Diaries.

To date, Reagan is the oldest man elected to the office of the presidency. In his first inaugural address on January 20, 1981, which Reagan himself wrote, he addressed the country's economic malaise arguing: "Government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem."
The Reagan Presidency began in a dramatic manner: as Reagan was giving his inaugural address, 52 U.S. hostages, held by Iran for 444 days were set free.

On March 30, 1981, Reagan, along with his press secretary James Brady and two others, were shot by a would-be assassin, John Hinckley, Jr. Missing Reagan’s heart by less than one inch the bullet instead pierced his left lung. He began coughing up blood in the limousine and was rushed to George Washington University Hospital, where it was determined that his lung had collapsed; he endured emergency surgery to remove the bullet. In the operating room, Reagan joked to the surgeons, "I hope you're all Republicans!" Though they were not, Dr. Joseph Giordano replied, "Today, Mr. President, we're all Republicans."
The bullet was removed and the surgery was deemed a success. It was later determined, however, that the president's life had been in serious danger due to rapid blood loss and severe breathing difficulties. He was able to turn the grave situation into a more light-hearted one though, for when Nancy Reagan came to see him he told her, "Honey, I forgot to duck" (using Jack Dempsey's quip).
The president was released from the hospital on April 11, and recovered relatively quickly. The assassination attempt had great influence on Reagan's popularity; polls indicated his approval rating to be around 73%. Reagan believed that God had spared his life so that he may go on to fulfill a greater purpose.

1982 Chicago Tylenol murders

2008-09-07T19:46:00.000-07:00

The Tylenol crisis occurred in the autumn of 1982, when seven people in the Chicago area in the United States died after ingesting Extra Strength Tylenol medicine capsules which had been laced with potassium cyanide poison. The perpetrator was never caught, but the incident has led to reforms in the packaging of over-the-counter substances and to federal anti-tampering laws.
The Tylenol crisis has been referenced in many films and books. It has also been used as a basis to spread urban legends about poison in kids' candy at Halloween and other poisoned foods or drinks purchased by consumers.

In the early morning of Wednesday, September 29, 1982, 12-year-old Mary Kellerman of Elk Grove Village died after taking a capsule of Extra Strength Tylenol. Adam Janus of Arlington Heights died in the hospital shortly thereafter. His brother, Stanley (of Lisle), and his wife Theresa died after gathering to mourn, having taken pills from the same bottle. By October 1, 1982, the poisoning had also taken the lives of Paula Prince of Chicago, Mary Reiner of Winfield, and Mary McFarland of Elmhurst. Investigators soon discovered the Tylenol link. Urgent warnings were broadcast, and police drove through Chicago neighborhoods issuing warnings over loudspeakers.
As the tampered bottles came from different factories, and the seven deaths had all occurred in the Chicago area, the possibility of sabotage during production was ruled out. Instead, the culprit was believed to have entered various supermarkets and drug stores over a period of weeks, pilfered packages of Tylenol from the shelves, adulterated their contents with solid cyanide compound at another location, and then replaced the bottles. In addition to the five bottles which led to the victims' deaths, three other tampered bottles were discovered.
Johnson & Johnson, the parent company of McNeil, distributed warnings to hospitals and distributors and halted Tylenol production and advertising. On October 5, 1982, it issued a nationwide recall of Tylenol products; an estimated 31 million bottles were in circulation, with a retail value of over US$100 million. The company also advertised in the national media for individuals not to consume any products that contained Tylenol. When it was determined that only capsules were tampered with, they offered to exchange all Tylenol capsules already purchased by the public with solid tablets.

The crime has never been solved, although opportunistic extortionist James W. Lewis claimed responsibility and made a money demand. Lewis was arrested and though ultimately found to have no connection to the deaths, ended up serving 13 years of a 20-year prison term for the extortion attempt.
A second man, Roger Arnold, was investigated and cleared of the killings. However, the media attention caused him to have a nervous breakdown and he blamed bar owner Marty Sinclair for sending the police his way. He shot and killed a man he believed to be Sinclair, but who was in fact an innocent man who did not know Arnold. Arnold wound up serving 15 years on a 30 year sentence for second degree murder. Arnold died in June 2008.
It has also been suggested that Laurie Dann, a native of Chicago's north suburbs who had a long history of mental illness and had later engaged in similar secretive poisoning attempts (as well as a grisly murder/suicide at a local grade school), may have been responsible.[1]
A $100,000 reward, posted by Johnson & Johnson for the capture and conviction of the "Tylenol Killer," has never been claimed.

Johnson & Johnson was praised by the media at the time for its handling of the incident. While at the time of the scare the market share of Tylenol collapsed from 35% to 8%, it rebounded in less than a year, a move credited to J&J's prompt and aggressive reaction. In November it reintroduced capsules, but in a new, triple-sealed package, coupled with heavy price promotions, and within several years Tylenol had become the most popular over-the-counter analgesic in the US.
A number of copycat attacks involving Tylenol and other products (see Stella Nickell for information on the 1986 Excedrin tampering murders) ensued during the following years. One of these incidents occurred in the Chicago area; unlike Tylenol, it actually forced the end of the product affected by the hoax, Encaprin, from Procter & Gamble. However, the incident did inspire the pharmaceutical, food, and consumer product industries to develop tamper-resistant packaging, such as induction seals, and improved quality control methods. Moreover, product tampering was made a federal crime.
Additionally, the tragedy prompted the pharmaceutical industry to move away from capsules, which were easy to contaminate as a foreign substance could be placed inside without obvious signs of tampering. Within the year, the Food and Drug Administration introduced more stringent regulations to avoid product tampering. This led to the eventual replacement of the capsule with the solid "caplet", a tablet made in the shape of a capsule, as a drug delivery form and to the addition of tamper-evident safety-seals to bottles of many sorts.

Don's Fads of The 80's List

2008-08-27T22:44:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of fads from the 1980's!

A
Atari
B
Baby On Board
Babyland General Hospital
Bowl cut
C
Cabbage Patch Kids
Camp Beverly Hills
Care Bears
Celebration (song)
Chia Pet
Citizens' band radio
Claytons
Commodore International Corporation
D
Deely bopper
Discman
F
Freezy Freakies
Friendship bracelet
G
Game & Watch
Garbage Pail Kids
G cont.
Gel bracelet
Gravity Guidance
J
Jelly shoes
Joseph Enterprises
K
Koosh ball
L
Locomía
M
M.U.S.C.L.E.
Madballs
Madonna wannabe
Mario
My Little Pony
N
Neon sign
New Wave music
New jack swing
P
Pac-Man
Platform shoe
Pound Puppies
R
Rainbow Brite
Rollerblade
R cont.
Rubik's Cube
S
Scratch and sniff
Simon (game)
Strawberry Shortcake
Street Fighter
Swatch
T
Teddy Ruxpin
Trapper Keeper
Trivial Pursuit
The Two Coreys
V
Valspeak
Video arcade
W
Wacky WallWalker
Walking on Sunshine (song)
Walkman
Where's the beef?
1980s wrestling boom
Y
Y.M.C.A. (song)
Yuppie

The Breakfast Club (1985)

2008-08-27T19:58:00.000-07:00

The Breakfast Club is a 1985 American teen film widely considered as the definitive work in the genre. Written and directed by John Hughes, the storyline follows five teenagers (each representing a different clique in high school) as they spend a Saturday in detention together and come to realize that they are all deeper than their respective stereotypes. The film has become a cult classic and has had a tremendous influence on many coming-of-age films since then. The film was shot entirely in sequence. Shooting began on March 28, 1984 and ended in May of 1984.

The plot follows five students at fictional Shermer High School in the widely used John Hughes setting of Shermer, Illinois (a fictitious suburb of Chicago based on Hughes' hometown of Northbrook, Illinois, which was originally called Shermerville; Shermer is a street in Northbrook, and the school in Northbrook, Glenbrook North High School is on Shermer), as they report for Saturday detention on March 24, 1984. Complete strangers, the five teenagers are all from a different clique or social group.

Each of the film's young stars became part of the Brat Pack (whose other members include Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy and Demi Moore), a group of actors who all hit stardom at the same time and tended to star in movies together. John Hughes appeared in an uncredited role as Brian's father. Of the entire cast, only Hall and Ringwald were actually high school age upon the movie's release; Nelson was twenty-five while Sheedy and Estévez were both twenty-two years old.
Judd Nelson’s performance was influenced by his method style technique of staying in character off set. He was accused of bullying Molly Ringwald off camera due to his insistence on remaining in character off-camera. This behavior nearly forced Hughes to fire Nelson, but Nelson was defended by Paul Gleason, his on-screen nemesis, who stated that Nelson was just trying to stay in character and did not mean anything by it.[1]
Ringwald and Hall dated briefly after filming ended.[2]
The school used in the filming of The Breakfast Club was also used for some of the school-based scenes in John Hughes' Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which was released just a year after The Breakfast Club. Some of the posters on the walls during filming of The Breakfast Club were still there when Ferris Bueller was filmed. The giveaway is that the sign on the front of the school reads "Shermer High School" in both films. On the Ferris Bueller's Day Off DVD commentary (featured on the 2004 DVD version) John Hughes reveals that he filmed the two movies back to back to save time and money, and some outtakes of both films feature elements of the film crews working on the other film in each case. Hughes has never disclosed, however, whether Ferris Bueller was implied to be a student at the same school as The Breakfast Club students a year later. In 2005, MTV announced that the film would be rewarded with the Silver Bucket of Excellence Award in honor of its twentieth Anniversary at the MTV Movie Awards. To coincide with the event, MTV attempted to reunite the original cast. Sheedy, Ringwald, and Hall appeared together on stage, with Kapelos in the audience, and Gleason personally gave the award to his former castmates. Estévez could not attend the reunion because of other commitments, and Nelson appeared earlier in the show but left before the on-stage reunion for reasons unknown, prompting Hall to joke that the two were "in Africa with Dave Chappelle." This show was taped on May 28, 2005 and aired on June 9.

New Chat at Don's 80's Corner!

2008-08-03T17:09:00.000-07:00

We have a totally awesome 1980's Chat room! Please come and chat with people all over the world who love the 80's just as much as you do!

Come on over to http://www.dons80scorner.com/

Thanks!
Don

My NEW 80's Website!

2008-07-27T05:10:00.000-07:00

My new 80's website is now LIVE! Please stop by and check it out:

www.dons80scorner.com

Thanks!

The Legend of Billie Jean (1985)

2008-06-10T19:44:00.000-07:00

Average Texas teen, Billie Jean Davy, is caught up in an odd fight for justice. She is usually followed and harrased around by local boys, who, one day, decide to trash her brother's scooter for fun. The boys' father refuses to pay them back the price of the scooter. The fight for "fair is fair" takes the teens around the state and produces an unlikely hero.

People who were alive in the 80's, especially teens, really dig this film. But in 1985 "The Legend of Billie Jean" was actually a major box office flop. But by the mid 80's the home video market was booming, and thanks to this newly created market, "The Legend of Billie Jean" got a second chance and did quite well.

Here is a funny YouTube review I found:

Here is the TV trailer for "The Legend of Billie Jean":