The first decade of the new century was filled with news

If there was a big bang - or a big bug - expected to bring in the new millennium, it was better described as an all around big bust.Maybe it was everyone just staying home worried about the effects of the Y2K computer virus threat or maybe everyone had to be at or on call for work in anticipation of dealing with it. But there certainly wasn't any partying like it was 1999, with all due respects to The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.

"We expected more than this," Marion Police Chief Tom Bell said at about 1 a.m. on Jan. 1. "Nobody's out."

More About 2000

Lives lost and homes gone- After deliberating for 131¼2 hours, a jury found Anthony Saxton guilty of murder and arson in a fire that authorities said was started to cover up the killing of his stepdaughter, Taranda Braddy. A roadside memorial on Burris Drive marked the site where Bobbie Jo Barry's body was discovered. A family friend, Barry Satta, would be identified as her killer. Nine-year-old Stevie Wilson was playing with his brother when he fell into the rushing water of the Scioto River near LaRue. More than 100 rescue workers searched for 31¼2 hours to find his body. Deputy Brian Parish drove ahead of a storm front to warn people after a tornado was spotted on May 23. A mobile home and five other homes were destroyed in northwest Marion County by the F2 twister.

A new hospital lease?- Not to be, said Mayor Jack Kellogg, who twice vetoed a new lease agreement between the city and county and Marion General Hospital saying he was concerned the change could take away from local control of the hospital. "You're never proud of something you reject that way. But I think it's good for the community. Let the hospital get their act together and leave the lease the way it is and see what happens here the next few years." Marion City council took no action in February to override his veto.

No code, no plan- Voters agreed with the push by the Building Code Battle Fund led by Josh Daniels that a building code was a way for the government to control their actions rather than a way to protect residents from shoddy work by contractors. They voted to repeal the code the city and county had enacted the previous year. Voters also defeated a 0.5 percent sales tax increase to provide funding toward an upgrade plan that would have improved traffic problems in the city and county. The $28 million raised over the 10-year period proposed would have built railroad overpasses, road extensions and a series of perimeter roads forming a bypass route in the county.

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