A group of approximately 65 graduates from 1971 - 1973 in the Plainview-Old Bethpage area recently reunited, but not at their high school reunion. "Why go to a 30th High School Reunion to spend time with people that I really do not care much about when I can spend time with my friends?" asked Barry Kluger, a 1971 graduate of Plainview High School and the one responsible for the friend reunion.

In 1988, Kluger organized a reunion of his social crowd from high school, which extended through Plainview and Old Bethpage, and about 25-30 people attended. "Many people we could not find and many did not want to be found," said Kluger.

On Aug. 12, Kluger was on Classmates.com, a popular web site that reunites old high school friends, when he started chatting with John Gonzalez, a fellow member of the class of '71.

After some conversation, Kluger was informed that a friend of his from high school who was in the picture from the 1988 friends reunion had passed away.

"John asked me if I was going to organize another reunion because he could not attend the first in '88," said Kluger. "I told him that now I am because I am tired of looking at pictures of friends and finding out that they had died."

It was easier now than in 1988 to start the search thanks to electronic mail, according to Kluger. His search started with eight e-mails and then turned into a national search seeking to locate old friends.

After some time of e-mailing, over 65 people were on the new friends reunion e-mailing list. They communicated via the Internet for some time and then all decided to meet.

The date was set for Nov. 4 and most planned on attending. The Friday before, about 25 people decided to meet for dinner at the Plainview Diner, which was a popular hang out for the group in 1971. At the actual friends reunion the following night, about 65 people showed up. Although spouses were invited, most chose not to so the friends could have time to get reacquainted.

"Many of us had not seen each other in 30 years," said Kluger. Some people chose not to come and Kluger speculates it was because they were embarrassed about their current situation. "I feel that it is not a competition between us," said Kluger. "It was about getting together and sharing something that was very special, but I did have the most hair," he joked.

It was agreed that this group of friends would try and get together every five years for a reunion. "The weekend was a blur," said Kluger, who flew in for the event as he resides in Arizona now with his wife. "I do not know where the five hours went." One friend present at the reunion said that after spending this time together, she thought everyone should live together. Although Kluger does not see that happening, he looks forward to seeing everyone in five years and staying in touch via e-mail.

The only discrepancy now is where to meet next time as many classmates live in Florida, some are still in New York and some are as far as Kosovo, but they still have five years to work out the details.