Ballot: Top 10 stories of 2007

What do you think were the top local stories of 2007? We’ve complied a list of the top 29 stories that we think were either the most important or most interesting. It’s up to you to decide which 10 make the final list.

You can vote using the poll to the right; check the boxes of the 10 stories you want to vote for and hit the “vote” button at the bottom.

Here’s the official ballot for Top 10 stories of 2007:

1. Hefner VA expanding: Opens new surgical suites after gutting older building on Salisbury campus, breaks ground on new facility in Charlotte and gets new director. In the same year, an Inspector General report is released criticizing surgical procedures at the hospital as well as supervision of Hefner patients transferred to regional nursing homes to live closer to their families.

2. After more than a year of fundraising, designing and cost-cutting, county opens new, safer Petting Barn at Dan Nicholas Park, serving as fitting memorial for the animals who perished in a still-unsolved fire. Park surges forward with other exhibits and has become one of the largest regional attractions for school groups. County opens Dunn’s Mountain Park, and Jim Foltz, the man who presided over all that growth, retires.

3. George Clooney, Renee Zellweger and Leatherheads capture the imagination and time of people across the Piedmont and especially Salisbury, where Clooney films scenes at Salisbury Station. People sign up to serve as extras and drive to Charlotte, Statesville and Yadkin County to take part in scenes. Newspaper reports what Zellweger likes to drink in her coffee.

4. Rowan-Salisbury School System spends a year with the scrutiny ‹ and help ‹ of a school assistance team, and Superintendent Dr. Judy Grissom finishes her first year in the job. Schools work hard to raise test scores so system can avoid harsher sanctions under No Child Left Behind act. In the end, the state officials take system off the watch list, but worries persist.

5. With state road projects going wildly over budget, the Department of Transportation suspends indefinitely its plans to replace the I-85 bridge across the Yadkin River. That decision prompts outpouring of concern from residents, businesses and local leaders that the current bridge is obsolete and dangerous and a weak but essential link for the entire I-85 corridor. Momentum grows locally and in the legislature to allow the state’s turnpike authority to build a new toll bridge. Dire warnings for doing nothing.

6. Grand jury indicts six Rowan County teens on charges they were in a car that hit a man on a scooter one night and left him on the road to die. Judge had to order exhumation of Michael Brown’s body before charges could be brought. Charges still pending.

7. Billionaire David Murdock zips in and out of Kannapolis throughout the year, and the N.C. Research Campus moves forward at almost break-neck speed. Murdock purchases the largest MRI in the world, and Castle & Cooke begins complete makeover of the former Cannon Village and the Kannapolis Country Club. Construction moves forward on four major buildings, and universities open offices in the Village. County and city scratch through lengthy, at times divisive, debate about public bonds to pay for roads, sewers and other supporting public facilities. They they ultimately agree to issue $168.4 million in bonds together.

8. Will Rowan become another big center for the racing business? Toyota Racing Development buys 89 acres on Peach Orchard Road, less than two weeks after county commissioners approved $519,000 in incentives for the company’s $22 million investment. Toyota plans to build a 35,000-square-foot facility that will house Toyota’s NASCAR competition group as well as chassis engineering operations. Later in the year, a company buys land to build a wind tunnel, which is key to racing teams testing new vehicle designs.

9. Former Landis Police Chief Charles Childers pleads guilty in federal court to three of eight counts regarding child pornography on the Internet. Though he could get 45 years, he’s allowed to remain free in his wife’s custody. Then, feds charge him with violating his bond rules and put him in jail.

10. A former teacher’s sexual harassment law suit against former West Middle School principal Tony Helms grabs the attention of the entire county and makes public lurid details of the affair. Teacher Laurie Mendiola is emotional and dramatic in her testimony, but a jury ultimately dismisses her claims entirely.

11. City, business and art interests work together to maintain transformation of downtown area. Despite overruns, city completes renovation of “entertainment district.” Piedmont Players announces purchase of Friendly Cue for future children’s theater, and Downtown Salisbury Inc. buys the former Empire Hotel. Private developers continue to revive old buildings, Kress being the best example.

12. Salisbury attorney Bill Graham makes it official — he’s running for governor. Throughout the year, he remains quietly one of the top Republican candidates for governor, hiring a Huckabee aide at the end of the year. With Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory considering run, two Catawba grads could find themselves fighting for the GOP nod.

13. Layoffs continue to hammer Rowan and Cabarrus. Freightliner lays off almost 1,200 employees in April. Philip Morris announces it will close its Concord plant entirely. Job growth is slow.

14. Catawba College completes amazing transformation in relatively short period of time ‹ opening three new dorms before fall classes begin and finishing renovation of its library by end of the year. More work to be done on the Cannon Student Center.

15. Staff and supporters of Rowan Homes go to court to try to prevent Piedmont Behavioral Services from taking away its contract to operate several homes for disabled adults in the community. Rowan Homes says Piedmont won’t pay the nonprofit enough to operate, but Piedmont simply lets RH’s contract expire and hires another nonprofit in Cabarrus. Judge refuses to get in the way.

16. Though Salisbury continues to lag behind other cities for retail sales, residents can see that beginning to change. Cracker Barrel, Walgreens and others move into I-85-Innes Street interchange, Wallace Commons development will be home to Home Depot and Kohls by next fall and Childress Klein has option on 97 acres on Jake Alexander Boulevard that could become home to a Target.

17. West Side! East Side! Suddenly, fights break out at a party at the J.C. Price American Legion Post. Shots are fired, and 13-year-old Treasure Feamster dies in the crossfire. 16-year-old Reginald Terrell Leach is charged in the shooting and other teens are charged with inciting a riot. And Treasure’s death makes the community face its problems with gangs. Mayor Susan Kluttz organizes multiple gang summits, calling together groups from throughout the community, people of all races, and joins with other N.C. mayors in calling for legislation allowing authorities to better deal with gangs. City gets more publicity when a New York Times reporter comes here to examine gang problems, at the suggestion of Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory. Overshadowed by all that news is the death of 14-year-old Salisbury High student Brooklyn Jones. 15-year-old Daniel McConneaghey is charged with stabbing Jones in a quarrel over a bicycle.

18. Death of LeeAnna Newman and her unborn child in accident caused by unlicensed, illegal immigrant Rigo Verto Guillen-Martinez ignites local debate about illegal immigration. Martinez already had been deported once and simply came back. He’s convicted of second-degree murder. No action taken against the police officer involved in the chase. Case also prompts bill that would allow murder charge for death of unborn fetus.

19. After years of hearings and negotiations about water levels and access to lakes and the river, Alcoa announces relicensing agreement with all but three local groups ‹ city of Salisbury, Davidson County and SaveHighRockLake.org. City appeals to federal agency to require Alcoa to pay for damage to his water intake point upstream from High Rock. Federal officials eventually agree that Alcoa bears some responsibility.

20. Dave Risdon dreams of bringing a high-class road-racing track to replace the defunct N.C. Finishing/ColorTex plant. But his dream scares one group that doesn’t want to see historic fording area at the Yadkin River harmed. Spencer zoning board disagrees and rezones the land. Then, Risdon runs afoul of the county and state environmental officials when his contractor’s bulldozers harm wetlands and start clearing land without any prior approval or permit. Risdon says he’ll make it all right and claims on his Web site to have backing of billionaire owner of Virgin Airlines.

21. County commissioners approve $1.7 million for improvements to downtown courthouse. Another pod in the jail will be finished, another courtroom prepared and space above the Sheriff’s Office finished. Public will get another entrance to the Sheriff’s Office also. For a time, trials are held in the old courthouse, now home to Rowan Museum, and county starts shipping inmates to other counties.

22. Drought returns to N.C., prompting counties and states to fight about sharing water from the Catawba and Yadkin rivers. Farmers lose much of their crops, forcing some to sell livestock. Some towns install water conservation measures, though the Yadkin provides a more resilient source for Salisbury. Governor asks all citizens to accept permanent restrictions on use of water.

23. Call it the Hospital War. As NorthEast and Rowan Regional see continued need to expand, they merge with two competing hospital system giants ‹ NE with Carolinas Health Care System and RR with Novant. And soon those new alliances are battling over patients ‹ or future patients ‹ in the Kannapolis area. NE wants to build a stand-alone emergency room just a few miles away from its own emergency room, while RR wants to build a 50-bed, full-service hospital called RR-South in the same area. State hears support and criticism of both and has yet to make a decision on either.

24. County commissioners turn their attention to the county fairgrounds and don’t like what they see ‹ lack of maintenance and accountability. They debate whether current fairgrounds is too attractive a site for that purpose and whether county should move the fairground elsewhere. They let contract with the fairground association expire, but no other group bids to take over management.

25. Never say die, convention center supporters say. Without telling other members of the school board, Chairman Bryce Beard quietly negotiates with members and staff of the city and county on deal to build a hybrid center downtown to house all school system offices and also provide a venue for large gatherings. He even got architect and City Council member Bill Burgin to draw a preliminary sketch. News leaks out at tourism board meeting and suddenly the public is debating central school office and convention center again. And Beard is no longer chairman of the school board.

26. For several days, the Captain’s Galley in China Grove grabs the attention of the eating public. Health Department says it has four confirmed cases of E.coli and nine other suspected cases at the restaurant. 86-year-old woman dies at Rowan Regional. Officials eventually say that employees slaughtered a goat in the kitchen. The restaurant closes.

27. The Rev. Coy Privette, for years leader of local conservatives, is suddenly charged with paying for sexual favors from a prostitute in Salisbury. Privette makes public apology and says he’s human like everyone else and made a mistake. Cabarrus County commissioners try unsuccessfully to force Privette off the commission, but he resigns his leadership position with the State Baptist Convention. And, clearly, his position as leader of local conservatives is forever tainted.

28. Rose Post, proclaimed “the voice of the people of Salisbury” by Mayor Susan Kluttz, retires after more than 50 years at the Salisbury Post.

29. Bruton Smith went to war with Concord City Council — and won. When the council denied him zoning for a new drag strip near Lowe’s Motor Speedway, the billionaire threatened for weeks to move the Speedway to somewhere more friendly. Rowan got in the act when the Rowan Jobs Initiative told Smith that Rowan would love to have him move here. Of course, that elicited howls from Cabarrus economic development officials as well as Rowan leaders who had not say in the matter. In the end, Smith got his zoning and millions in incentives.