Workers at the Taystee Bakery in Flushing were beginning a fight to save their jobs – all 510 of them. Backed by a coalition of community and labor groups, the soon-to-be-unemployed workers were calling for a boycott of Taystee products as a last resort if company officials were to go ahead with plans to close the facility….

On a snowy night in March, USAir Flight 405, bound for Cleveland from LaGuardia, crashed on take-off and burned when a gas tank ruptured on impact.

The Dutch-built Fokker F28-4000 was carrying 47 passengers and a crew of four. The fiery crash killed 27 and injured 24. According to authorities, the jet was at the correct speed, with flaps properly adjusted for take-off, (and was briefly airborne) when the left wing dipped and hit the ground twice.

The jet cartwheeled over a 14-foot-high beam and landed upside down in four feet of water in Flushing Bay.

This tragic weather-related crash led to two investigations. The national investigation focused on de-icing procedures used for aircraft prior to take-off. The crash of USAir 405 was almost certainly due to ice on the wings because of weather conditions. The jet was de-iced 35 minutes prior to take-off (see page 32).…

Manuel de Dios Unanue, 49, the former editor-in-chief of El Diario, and publisher of two Queens-based Spanish language weeklies, was shot in the back of the head and killed as he sat in an Elmhurst restaurant on March 11.At first, there was uncertainty as to motive. But the police said the murder “had all the aspects of what we call a ‘hit’”. De Dios, a resident of Corona, was a well-respected journalist in the Spanish-language press. In recent years, he had gained notoriety because of his criticism of Colombian drug cartels, their connection with legitimate businesses and political corruption trials in Puerto Rico. Law officials told the Trib they gained “a tremendous boost” from Dios’ investigations, which help indict drug traffickers, including the notorious cocaine king Pablo Escobar of Colombia....

April saw the New York Presidential Primary.

Congressman Tom Manton, Democratic Party County Leader, had gambled in January by picking Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton; now it was up to him to prove that he could deliver the votes.

Clinton was close to winning the nomination, and a win in New York could virtually seal his ultimate victory. A poll conducted by Tribune parent company News Communications found 67 percent of people would vote for “a Presidential candidate who admitted to extramarital affairs”.

Clinton got 45 percent of the borough’s vote, with former Senator Paul Tsongas a surprising second with 30 percent, and former California Governor Jerry Brown third with 22 percent.

Tsongas had suspended his campaign the month before, but his name remained on the ballot. The 19,000-vote margin Clinton received in Queens was two-thirds of his city-side margin. Manton gambled, Manton won.…

In an emotional news conference at St. John’s University, Lou Carnesecca, 67, announced his retirement as head coach of the basketball team, effective immediately. The Jamaica resident coached the team for 24 years, but his court style, enhanced by unforgettable sweaters, his ability to consistently make a team more than the sum of its players, and his quoteability, made him one of the most recognizable figures on the New York scene, and a name synonymous with basketball in America….

In February, a group of separatist officials met to discuss how the borough could break away and become its won city. The Queens United Envisioning Secession Tomorrow (QUEST) was formed to steer the secessionist movement.  The City of Queens proposal was in response to “the historic domination of the so-called ‘outer boroughs’ by Manhattan money interest”.   

State Senator Serphin Maltese introduced the separation legislation on Feb. 4, which would bring into existence the fourth largest city in the country. 

QUEST member State Senators Serphin Maltese told the Trib, “We in the outer borough’s are second class citizens when it comes to city services.  They have taken our fire houses, our police protection, our sanitation services our parks and our library services.”  He added, “Although the East River separates Queens from Manhattan geographically, in terms of lifestyles and needs we are worlds apart.”...

Queens said goodbye to Adventurer’s Inn.

In May, in the wake of an incredible verdict in the Rodney King case that spurred so much urban violence across the entire country, Mayor Dinkins moved City Hall to Queens for a week, as he had promised months before. His warm reception in Queens was in marked contrast to his reception in Brooklyn and the Bronx….

Alexander’s, a fixture in New York retailing for 64 years, closed the doors of its 11 metropolitan stores for the last time and declared bankruptcy. More than 5,000 people lost jobs as a result. Alexander’s operated two stores in Queens, on Queens Boulevard in Rego Park and on Main Street in Flushing….

In June, the Queens Tribune celebrated its 22nd anniversary with a record 116-page issue that proclaimed Queens County as the epitome of the classic Melting Pot, with over 100 nationalities calling this borough home, and filling its streets with the aromas, sounds and sights of the “old country,” wherever the old country may be….

In September, it was a great primary for incumbents in Queens County. All incumbents won, with the exceptions of Congressman Steven Solarz, who was running in the 12th C.D.

In November, plans for a $280 million New York Times printing plant in College Point were announced. The 360,000-square-foot plant would generate an estimated 600 jobs.

In the move, The Times received: $6.1 million of property-tax breaks, a $4.8 million exemption on the sale of construction material; $13.3 million worth of free electricity from the New York Power Authority.  In return, the city received about $115 million in tax revenue, according to city officials....