– CBS World News Roundup – December 22, 1997 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
One of the years that was winding up on a fragile note, this particular December 22nd in 1997.
A 14-hour whirlwind tour of Sarajevo by President Clinton, along with the First Lady and Chelsea on this day. President Clinton bolstered U.S. support of the peace process and told the warring factions not to let it slip away. Everybody had fingers crossed. Even though the visit was short, it was packed with symbolism and substance. Clinton addressed a number of schools in Sarajevo, strolled through a marketplace which would have been unthinkable a year earlier and addressed the U.S./NATO Peace-keeping force in Tuzla before heading back to Washington.
Meanwhile, Russian President Boris Yeltsin was off the sick-list and heading to the Kremlin to get back to work. He was resting in a sanitarium the past two weeks over what officials were saying was a Cold, but which had many speculating Yeltsin was in worse shape than was being let-on. Yeltsin was insisting on making a Kremlin appearance in order to quash the rumors.
Back home – many Medicare recipients found their benefits shrinking, thanks to providers adding charges to prescription medication and other costs, forcing many to abandon their coverage and go elsewhere or go without. Ironically, and perhaps unrelated, the state of Florida concluded the Prudential Insurance was at the core of a massive fraud which deliberately cheated and mislead its customers for over a decade. The Attorney General for the State of Florida also uncovered evidence of a Million Dollar pay-off to silence a whistle-blower.
A freak accident at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco claimed the life of a 2-year old who slipped through a walkway crevice and plunged some 170 feet to a dirt service road.
The jury in the Terry Nichols/Oklahoma City Bombing trial was heading into its fifth day of deliberations after a two-day break. And the 12 jurors and 6 alternates were slated to be sworn in to begin the Unabomber trial later on this day.
And the Christmas season, with only 3 shopping days left, was leaving retailers so nervous they began After-Christmas sales 3-days before Christmas. Slating no attention-grabbing electronic gizmos unveiled for the Holiday season, the retailers were busy slashing prices up to 70% in an attempt to lure reluctant customers in.
And that’s a small slice of what went on, this December 22nd in 1997 as reported by The CBS World News Roundup.
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