THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 31, 1994 TAG: 9412310308
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 165 lines
In a year of murderous rampage abroad and electoral upheaval at home, the biggest story of all was a double homicide - the mesmerizing case of O.J. Simpson, according to an informal survey of our readers.
A close second was the November elections, when - with a furious twist of their ballot levers - voters flipped America's political landscape upside down.
More than 300 of you answered the call for votes on the news of 1994. Some of you were touched deeply, weeping at the sight of South Africans waiting for hours to cast ballots while bored Americans stayed away from the polls in droves, gripping your own children when you learned a mother cried false tears at the loss of her two sons.
And many of you shook your heads at the human foibles that made headlines in 1994 - a year when the sensational eclipsed the serious, when tabloid headlines vied with the stuff of history.
Here are the top 10 stories if 1994, as chosen by you, the readers.
1. O.J. Simpson.
``It's probably the greatest murder trial in the history of the United States, especially since it involves a well-known celebrity. Everyone's involved in it. I've never been more absorbed by a story.''
Jeff Barkan
Norfolk
2. GOP sweeps elections.
``The elections will impact the country more than anything. I think it will be hard to swallow at first, but in the long run I think it's going to be better for our nation.''
Trena Alexander
Portsmouth
3. Mother kills sons.
``The top story is the Susan Smith story. After praying with my children for the kids, the hardest thing that I've had to do is explain that a mother could kill her children.''
Joh Anne Michalczyk
Chesapeake
4. Ice skating plot.
``I think it was No. 1 because I think everybody got into it. They went after her because she was good. It was so violent and so scary, so out of the ordinary.''
Meredithe Mamoudis
Virginia Beach
5. South African elections.
``Being an African American, and deeply impacted by the incarceration and release of Nelson Mandela, I can tell you I sit and cried when I was watching these long lines of South Africans voting for the very first time.''
Melodie Hutchinson
Nofolk
6. The Bobbitts
``What made that story big was her cutting off his penis. If it had been his arm we would have heard nothing about it. . . . And in court, she got nothing. Her not serving time made it a bigger story.''
Jack Pritchard
Norfolk
7. Au revoir, Jackie.
``For many of us who came of political age in the '60s, the top story was the death of Jackie. While I've known for a long time the reality of the man who was JFK, I've also known the magic that was Camelot and believe that it is a dream that continues to fuel us and give us hope for the future.''
Shannon Hardwick
Norfolk
8. Palestinian homeland.
``It's pretty much been since the beginning of time that they've been fighting. And now there's some sort of peace there. That's the story that impressed me the most.''
Ray Kendrick
Virginia Beach
9. Health reform stalled.
``It's a great concept - government stepping forward to provide some sort of reform. But I just feel that what they were coming out with was going to be a boondoggle. I was just happy to see it become a dead-end issue.''
Alfred Wallace III
Virginia Beach
10. Urban earthquake.
``It was a big event, a national disaster. People were hurt, and there was also the concern about our economic health - money that was taken away from other uses to help.''
David Twigg
Virginia Beach MEMO: Top news stories chosen by news executives on page A7.
A TALLY OF THE VOTES
Here is the final tally from the reader survey on the top new stories
of the year. On each ballot cast, three points were awarded for the top
story, two for second choice and one for third. Not all contributors
picked three stories. Total ballots cast: 306 - 279 by phone, 19 by
electronic mail, 8 by U.S. mail.
O.J. Simpson 318 points
GOP sweeps elections 289
Mother kills sons 134
Ice skating plot 79
South African elections 72
Bobbitt fini 66
Au revoir, Jackie 45
Palestinian homeland 41
Health reform stalled 40
California earthquake 33
GATT treaty 32
Time out for baseball 26
Bloodshed in Rwanda 25
Nixon's death 25
Info superhighway 23
U.S. plane crashes 23
Northern Ireland 22
Restoring Aristide 22
Muddy Whitewater 16
Winter Olympic games 15
Michael Jackson 15
Interest rates 15
The former Yugoslavia 13
Menendez brothers 12
Abortion slayings 11
Medgar Evers case 11
Jeffrey Dahmer slain 10
The Ames spy case 8
Three strikes for criminals 8
Iraq deja vu 7
Assaults on the White House 7
North Korea nukes 7
Reagan has Alzheimer's 6
Cuban refugee crisis 5
Dropping Vietnam embargo 4
U.S. downs U.N. helicopter 3
Paula Jones accuses Clinton 0
Peace in Angola 0
WRITE-INS
Woodstock revisted 3
Gays in the military 6
Soccer cup in U.S. 3
Jeweler opens fire 3
Robb re-elected 2
Emergence of China 1
ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
O.J. Simpson
Her sham discovered, Susan Smith admitted killing her sons.
Skater Tonya Harding was a flop at the Olympics
Southern Californians awakened to find their world shaken inexorably
by a Jan. 17 quake; 61 people lost their lives, property damage
topped $20 billion.
KEYWORDS: 1994 by CNB