[January 03, 2006] The top 10 stories of 2005 Tweet (Montgomery Advertiser (AL) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Dec. 31--Montgomery was a place of both jubilation and sad goodbyes this year as the city celebrated the 50th anniversary of an epic civil rights battle but bade farewell to the woman who started it all. The death of Rosa Parks and the commemoration of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, started by Parks, lead the Montgomery Advertiser's list of top 10 stories for 2005. Both events brought thousands to the Capital City to pay tribute to the people and place that helped change the world. Hurricane Katrina takes the No. 2 spot. The Aug. 29 storm that devastated the Gulf Coast sent hundreds of families to the tri-county area, where Alabamians welcomed them with friendship, food and shelter. The third story is the May grand opening of Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, the Korean company's first plant in the U.S. The plant has been a boon, bringing about 2,000 jobs to the local economy and a new culture into the area's melting pot. The money it takes to fill the gas tanks of the new Alabama-made Hyundai Sonatas --and every other vehicle on the road -- is the No. 4 story. Motorists groaned in frustration as fuel prices kept creeping higher, sometimes spiking up by as much as 20 cents in fewer than 24 hours and culminating in prices above the $3 mark. Story No. 5 is the Base Realignment and Closure Commission's vote to spare Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base from losing a vital computer operations group to a base in Massachusetts. The vote saved thousands of local jobs. At No. 6 is the gridiron success of both Auburn University and the University of Alabama. A ban on smoking in Montgomery restaurants comes in at No. 7. Four of Auburn's 2004 football players were first-round picks in the 2005 NFL draft for the year's No. 8 story. The No. 9 story is the city's decision to move Jubilee CityFest back to its location by the river. In the final spot is the hiring of Geoffrey Sherman as the new producing artistic director of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]