ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 29, 1996 TAG: 9612310130
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: 5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: HELEN O'NEILL THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Fire ignites the nighttime sky. Death darkens the Olympics. Rumors, theories and tears abound.
And the year ends with haunting questions about two of the biggest mysteries of 1996: the explosion of a Paris-bound TWA jet over Long Island, and the bombing at Atlanta's Centennial Park during the summer Olympic Games.
The TWA explosion was the biggest story of the year, according to the annual Associated Press poll of newspaper editors and broadcast news directors; the Olympic bombing placed third, after the elections.
The arrest of Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski, the ValuJet crash in the Florida Everglades, the overhaul of the nation's welfare system, the Olympic Games, the shutdown of the government, the booming economy and the wrath of last winter's great blizzard filled out the list.
For the first time in years, no international stories secured a spot, perhaps because there was such a wealth of national news from which to choose. This is the AP's 60th survey; last year's top story was the Oklahoma City bombing.
The top 10 are as follows:
1. TWA explosion. The sad, lingering saga of TWA's Flight 800 was overwhelmingly voted the year's top story. The jet mysteriously exploded moments after taking off from John F. Kennedy International Airport on July 17, killing all 230 people on board.
The images were heart-wrenching; Sixteen members of a high school French Club from Montoursville, Pa., wiped out on their first trip to France; charred bodies and fuselage scattered over the Atlantic, dredged up with sickening slowness over the next several months; 15 empty coffins for the bodies that couldn't be found.
Ritualistic press conferences and memorial services did little to ease the pain. The emotions of grieving families were further battered by the ever-changing theories: a bomb, a missile, static electricity in the fuel tank. Still no answers.
``We just have to wait till the pain stops and we can smile again,'' says Carol Olsen of Macon, Ga., who lost her 20-year-old daughter, Becky.
2. U.S. election. Bill Clinton sailed into a second term after an expensive - and many said uninspiring - presidential campaign. From the start, the Democratic president's lead in the polls was luxurious. He easily - if only temporarily - deflected questions about ethics, Asian money and Whitewater.
Republican challenger Bob Dole fumbled and stumbled and berated the media for his problems, including his inability to sell a 15 percent tax cut.
Presidential politics aside, the Republicans held onto Congress and re-elected Newt Gingrich speaker.
3. Olympic bomb. He was hailed as a hero, hounded as a suspect, and finally cleared by the FBI. Richard Jewell said he was ``just doing his job'' when he spotted a suspicious satchel in Centennial Olympic Park and notified police. The July 27 explosion killed Alice Hawthorne of Albany, Ga., and injured more than 100 others; it stained the already besieged games, and further diminished Americans' sense of security.
It also changed Jewell's life forever. For nearly three months, every detail of the 33-year-old security guard's past was aired in the press, until the FBI announced he was not a suspect.
The bomber has yet to be found.
4. Unabomber arrest. A hermit professor, living in a tiny, isolated cabin in Montana, was fingered by his brother, who recognized similarities between Theodore Kaczynski's writings and those of the technology-obsessed ``unabomber.'' Kaczynski's arrest on April 3 apparently ended an 18-year search for the elusive bomber, whose lethal packages killed three people and injured or maimed 23 others. Kaczynski, a former assistant professor of mathematics at the University of California at Berkeley, pleaded innocent.
5. Everglades crash. ``We're on fire. We're on fire,'' a voice cried from the cabin, moments before ValuJet Flight 592 plunged into the Everglades on May 11, killing all 110 people aboard. Recovery proved gruesome and grueling. Divers wore special protective suits as they searched in waist-high swamp muck and razor-sharp sawgrass, while sharpshooters tried to protect them from alligators. The fire that caused the crash was eventually blamed on improperly boxed oxygen canisters and the quirky little airline with the happy face logo and the super cheap rates was grounded for 15 weeks. One result: a continuing investigation into the safety record of discount airlines and the ability of the Federal Aviation Administration to monitor them.
6. Welfare ends. Acknowledging that the new law was ``seriously flawed,'' President Clinton signed it anyway, ending welfare as we know it.
At its heart, the legislation dismantled Aid to Families With Dependent Children, a 6-decade-old program that guaranteed the nation's needy a federal safety net. Now they must rely on their states for help. The law comes with strict new rules, including a lifetime limit of five years, stringent work requirements, and cuts in food stamps and aid to immigrants and disabled children. Supporters said the new law would get people on their feet, but criticism came from many quarters: from states that said they couldn't meet the deadlines, from social workers who said the new system will plunge more people into poverty, from three top federal officials who resigned in protest.
``I think a lot of people will start starving,'' said Shawn Cornett, a 22-year-old welfare recipient in Kentucky.
7. Centennial games. A bomb explodes, buses break down, and a feisty little gymnast flips on an injured ankle and wins the nation's heart. The 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta will be remembered for the bombing, for rampant commercialism, for transportation problems and ``warm and fuzzy'' television images designed to appeal to women. And for sports heroes: Muhammad Ali lighting the flame, Kerri Strug being carried to the podium to collect her gold medal, Carl Lewis winning his ninth gold medal, Michael Johnson triumphing on gold-shod feet.
8. Government shuts down. Thousands of federal workers began the year with partial paychecks or no pay at all, while tourists at the capital could view only the outside of darkened museums and monuments. Republicans blamed Clinton for the partial government shutdown - the second in as many months - because he vetoed several spending bills that would have financed federal agencies for the year. Democrats blamed Republicans for insisting on unacceptable spending cuts. The stop-and-go government chugged on until April, ending with a $159 billion budget compromise for which both parties claimed victory.
9. The boom continues. The stock market soared, the deficit was down and unemployment neared a seven-year low. The economy is undoubtedly healthy - too healthy, some think. Witness the nervous reaction to Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's December speech cautioning against ``irrational exuberance'' in financial markets, which sent stock markets tumbling from Tokyo to New York. But soon, they resumed their upward climb.
10. Big blizzard. A monster storm paralyzed the Northeast and Midwest, breaking all kinds of records and capping a never-ending winter. The Jan. 8 blizzard, which dumped 20.1 inches on New York City, grounded cars, buses, trains, planes and just about anything else that moved. At least 50 deaths were blamed on the blizzard. Nine months later a bumper crop of births was blamed on the same thing. ``We'd played every board game we had. There was nothing else to do,'' said Amy Lauriat of New York, who delivered her so-called ``blizzard baby'' in late September.
LENGTH: Long : 130 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Stunned people gather at a street corner two blocksby CNBfrom the site of a blast at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, July
27. KEYWORDS: YEAR 1996