UNABOMBER CASE COMES TO A FITTING END

It is a fact that the American news media succumbs easily to the frenzy level whenever certain events occur. As a result, there are probably still a good number of newspaper readers and television viewers who still aren't aware that the Unabomber case is over. Why? Because Ted Kaczynski pleaded guilty during the height of media coverage of the latest Clinton scandal.

There have been countless instances when important news events never received adequate coverage because of bad timing, bad in the sense that other events -- scandals, invasions, O.J. jury verdicts -- happened at the same time.

The tragic story of the Unabomber ranks among the most bizarre of modern news events. Kaczynski, despite his obvious mental condition and his unwillingness to cooperate even with his own lawyers, managed to remain at center stage right up to the moment he announced he would accept a plea bargain: a guilty plea in exchange for life in prison rather than the death penalty.

His motivation, however, appears to have been avoiding being characterized in open court as mentally ill, something he considered personally repugnant. In the end, he got his life sentence as well as general acceptance that he is mentally unbalanced.