As the nation weathered economic turmoil, security fears and political changes in 2002, Freeborn County also saw more than its share of drama.

While America spent 2002 dealing with the continuing fallout of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Albert Lea and the surrounding area dealt with the consequences of the Farmland fire, coming to a slow realization that the plant isn’t likely to be rebuilt any time soon.

Local headlines of lasting significance included controversy over Freeborn County’s long-developing courthouse plans; election-year changes and surprises; news of shocking crimes; and economic shakeups, including Farmland’s bankruptcy and Ford’s brief interest in Albert Lea.

The top 20 stories of 2002, as chosen by Tribune staff and Web site visitors:

1. Freeborn County’s courthouse plans

After spending much of the last decade investigating, planning, gathering input &045; and starting over again &045; Freeborn County commissioners decided on a courthouse plan that will replace the jail with one more than twice as large, add new court facilities, demolish the 1954 administrative building and restore the exterior of the 1888 portion of the downtown government complex.

But it didn’t come easily, and the process was as tangled in controversy as ever.

With a series of 3-2 votes, urban commissioners Dave Mullenbach, Mark Behrends and Dan Springborg overrode rural representatives Dan Belshan and Glen Mathiason to assemble the plan piece by piece.

The demolition of the massive, county-owned Western Grocer building to the south of the courthouse was the start; later, the board voted to accept a plan that included a 117-bed jail and to demolish the 1954 building, replacing it with space added onto a preliminary design for a new judicial center.

The planned demolition of the 1954 building was the part that gave rise to the most public opposition to the plan; a group of citizens protested the decision, saying the structure was still useful and there was no need for it to be destroyed. The group’s message later evolved as members focused on their call for a public vote on the issue.

Commissioners, however, chose to raise money for the project with a combination of general-obligation bonds, lease bonds, and lease-revenue bonds to raise $25.7 million. This financing method did not require a public vote.

The move sparked more protests, and a secretive group called the Freeborn County Committee for Fairness (FCCF) filed a lawsuit against the county and three commissioners, arguing the county board used improper procedure in passing the bonds. The suit scared away initial bidders on the courthouse bonds and delayed the process. The lawsuit was dropped after the county threatened a counter-move that would have held the FCCF responsible for extra costs caused by the delay.

Construction on the new courthouse complex will start in spring 2003.

2. Up-and-down year for schools

Albert Lea schools started the year in financial trouble, with 14 staff positions cut, elective programs eliminated and extracurriculars trimmed after the failure of a levy referendum in 2001. The year ended, however, with the comfortable passage of a two-part, five-year levy that promised to bring back the terminated programs and add all-day, every-day kindergarten.

In March, $1.1 million in cuts from the 2002-2003 budget went into effect. The school laid off the equivalent of 14 full-time staff members, saving money by cutting back basic education in the elementary grades; dropping high-school electives, including the French class and driver’s education; eliminating assistant-coach positions from sports teams; and cutting instructors for extracurriculars like dance team, cross-country running, mock trial and marching band.

After researching voter attitudes, the school board decided to put a new, two-part referendum to voters on the November ballot. The first part, the school said, would keep programs at 2002-2003 levels, and the second part would be enough to bring back cut programs and add all-day kindergarten.

But in November, after an extended campaign led by the Together Education Achieves More (TEAM) citizen committee, a two-part levy referendum passed, with question one getting 58 percent &uot;yes&uot; votes and question two getting 54 percent in favor. The levy will generate more than $2.1 million a year for the schools, based on 2002-2003 enrollment levels.

3. Farmland files for bankruptcy

Early in the year, the City of Albert Lea was busy lining up the necessary pieces to get a new Farmland plant built in the city. The site came when a lawsuit with an industrial-park developer was settled and the land became city property; other incentives, like a special property tax arrangement and a state sales-tax exemption, came from the legislature.

But the outlook for a new plant got instantly worse when Farmland, the world’s largest cooperative, filed for bankruptcy on May 31. The company had been losing money in some of its divisions, including fertilizer, grain and feed. When many security holders cashed out, it left Farmland short on cash and unable to make a $10 million loan payment due May 31.

With its assets tied up in court and an insurance settlement on the old plant still pending, it began to look like a new plant in Albert Lea would not be high on the cooperative’s priority list. One reason to remain optimistic, however, was the cooperative’s faith in its refrigerated-meat division, of which the Albert Lea plant was a part and which could be a key part of a restructured Farmland.

After the bankruptcy, the city’s main focus shifted to getting the old plant torn down, but nothing could be accomplished without the approval of the bankruptcy court. Finally, the cooperative and city agreed on a deal whereby insurance proceeds would pay up to $3 million of the cost of demolition, and the city would then take ownership of the site and be responsible for environmental cleanup on the site.

4. Senate District 27 election

Election-night numbers had DFLer Dan Sparks of Austin upsetting incumbent Grace Schwab, R-Albert Lea, by 33 votes &045; but that was just the start of the story.

A recount uncovered 17 missing ballots in one Austin precinct; it later surfaced that they were mistakenly taken home and burned by an election judge who misinterpreted instructions. Overall, with those ballots out of play, Schwab closed to within three votes of Sparks after the recount. Sparks lost eight votes in the precinct where the ballots were burned.

The State Canvassing Board met Dec. 10 to decide on 32 disputed ballots, which wound up being split evenly. Then, in a move that stirred controversy, the board chose to count Sparks’ election-night total from the precinct where the ballots were missing &045; effectively giving eight of the missing ballots to him.

Later in December, Austin resident Tom Purcell, with backing from the state Republican Party, filed a lawsuit in Mower County challenging the results. A judge will hear the challenge Jan. 2.

The race is important on a statewide level because Democrats saw their long-standing majority in the Senate trimmed to just a few votes, and that majority would be even more precarious if Schwab holds the Albert Lea-Austin seat.

5. Ford flirts with Albert Lea

The news created a buzz in Albert Lea: Ford Motor Company was considering the city for a new parts-distribution center to serve the Midwest. Menomonie, Wis. and Stewartville were also being considered, company and city officials confirmed Sept. 27. Reports predicted anywhere from 50 to, eventually, 200 high-paying jobs.

The city offered Ford the Habben Industrial Park site once reserved for Farmland, but the company eventually chose Menomonie, citing a more central location and more favorable corporate tax and workers’ compensation rates in Wisconsin.

6. Eaton elected mayor

Jean Eaton became the city’s first woman to be elected mayor in November, defeating Mark Anderson by a 56-to-43-percent margin to succeed Bob Haukoos, who announced earlier in the year that he’d retire after one term.

Eaton, a former Convention and Visitors Bureau director, Riverland Community College Dean and instructor and bank employee, is now director of the United Way of Freeborn County. She promised to make economic development, lake improvements and raising Albert Lea’s profile priorities.

7. Gutierrez murder trial

Paul Gutierrez Jr. was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison for the April 2001 murder of toddler Makaio Radke in Albert Lea. Gutierrez had been babysitting Radke for the child’s mother, and when she returned the next morning the child had died.

The jury took less than two hours to reach its verdict.

The trial was the largest ever in Freeborn County, with more than 100 names on the witness list. After the lengthy jury-selection process, the trail lasted a week.

8. Attack on pizza delivery driver

On May 20, Domino’s Pizza delivery driver Nicholas Joseph Nesse, 19, was robbed on West 11th Street and badly injured in the armed assault.

The perpetrators, all later arrested, called in an order for a phony address, then sprung out from behind a car to attack Nesse when he arrived. They stole around $16 and the pizza after hitting him on the head with an axe handle and cracking his skull.

Nesse suffered permanent loss of peripheral vision after recovering from the attack.

9. Quality Pork interested in Albert Lea

An Austin employer tied to Hormel, Quality Pork Processors, confirmed in November that it was considering Albert Lea and Clear Lake, Iowa for a new pork-loin processing plant that could eventually employ 200. The city council approved an incentive package that could include a new

building in the Northaire Industrial Park and a 15-year tax-increment financing arrangement. The company did not set a timeline for its decision.

10. Mark Harig elected sheriff

In the first open-seat election for sheriff since the 1960s in Freeborn County, former sheriff’s department Supervisor/Investigator Mark Harig defeated police lieutenant Phil Bartusek to succeed retiring sheriff Don Nolander. Harig stressed aggressive action against drug dealers and hands-on training for deputies in his campaign.

11. Troubles in USC school district

With the landslide defeat of a bond referendum for new school buildings, a near-teacher’s strike that was averted at the last minute, and the resignation of embattled superintendent Frank Lorentz, it was a tumultuous year for the United South Central School District, based in Wells.

12. Home Depot opens in Albert Lea

13. City approves purchase of neglected Lea Center building, planning to turn it over to private developers who will transform it into a residential-commercial complex

14. Long-time mayor and city councilman Marv Wangen dies

15. Chairman Dave Mullenbach reelected to county board after spearheading courthouse movement

16. Albert Lea Medical Center announces closings of Alden, Northwood, Garner clinics

17. City council approves deal to pave the way for Wal-Mart Supercenter near I-35 on eastern side of Albert Lea

18. Jay Bergland, 37, dies of injuries sustained during a fire at the Landmark Apartments in Albert Lea

19. Former Edwards Manufacturing employee Lorna Johnson apprehended and found guilty for embezzling $525,000 from the company

20. Sales-tax bill to raise money for lake and downtown improvements dies in House committee