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The Year in Cartoons

By cartoonist Steven DeCinzo

Unless otherwise noted, all cartoons are from Metro.


January 12-18: Rainfall and flooding welcomed the new year and ushered it out.


March 2-8: Even the so-called Republican Revolution in Congress wasn't enough to distract the nation's media from the trial of the century.


March 30-April 5: Pete Wilson's run for the White House ended on September 29, just 32 days after he launched his ill-fated campaign.


April 27-May 3: The Oklahoma City bombing on April 19 was first blamed on Middle East terrorists. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols are awaiting trial for the bombing that left 169 dead.


May 25-31: A humilating playoff sweep by the Detroit Red Wings ended the 1994/95 season for the sharks. This season, the team swam near the bottom of the NHL, even before firing Coach Kevin Constantine and making a series of player trades.


June 1-7: On May 26, Serbs took more than a dozen U.N. peacekeepers hostage and used them as human shields against NATO air raids. The White House also suffered a series of unrelated attacks during the year.


June 15-21: On June 12, the Supreme Court dealt a blow to affirmative action when it ruled that "all racial classifications" by government agencies are "inherently suspect and presumptively invalid."


June 20-26: The baseball strike ended, but public disdain for the national pastime did not.


June 22-28: President Clinton reluctantly signed a G.O.P-backed initiative to eliminate federal speed limit controls on November 28.


July 6-12: Congress took aim at the Internet in 1995 with a Senate amendment to the federal telecommunications bill that tries to censor "filthy," "lewd" or "indecent" materials on-line with two-year prison terms and $100,000 fines for offenders.


August 3-9: A doctored envelope that put a 32-cent Richard Nixon stamp behind bars was a popular item in 1995 and prompted some experimentation with other stamps.


August 17-23: Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia died on August 9.


August 23 Los Gatos: The service industry made its presence felt from Los Gatos to Menlo Park in 1995.


September 14-20: The city of San Jose expected to raise $5 million in parking fines, nearly double the 1993 total.


September 20-26 Willow Glen: Rep. Norm Mineta resigned his seat in Congress on October 10 after more than 20 years in office, forcing a special election Dec. 12 which was won by Republican Tom Campbell.


September 21-27: The Washington Post, in an unusual agreement with The New York Times, published the unaltered 35,000-word manifesto of the serial killer known as the Unabomber on September 19.


October 4: The October 3 not-guilty verdict in the Simpson trial was interpreted by many as more of a condemnation of the LAPD than a vindication of O.J.


November 9-15: Mayor Susan Hammer's efforts to lure the Golden State Warriors to San Jose with taxpayer dollars were dashed when the San Jose Sharks abruptly broke off negotiations to sublet the arena for basketball.

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