The year that just ended - 2004 - was an amalgam of pluses and minuses that collectively placed an imprint on the lives of county residents.

For a year that started out bleak, even scary at times for the city of Butler, 2004 ended up sporting many high notes, one of which was holding its own show New Year's Eve.After sitting vacant for two years, the Penn Theater on North Main Street was bought by the Penn Theater Community Trust which began a multi-year renovation.In November, trust members, in conjunction with the Independent Filmmakers Channel, held Butler's first film festival, and on New Year's Eve it served as headquarters for the city's first Ring in the Arts celebration.Gov. Ed Rendell made several appearances in Butler this year, delivering large amounts of state money for revitalization each time.In April he delivered the first of two checks to the Community Development Corporation of Butler County to help pay for the renovation of Butler's historic Pullman Park.He was back in August to distribute $5.5 million for the CDC to buy the former Trinity Industries property, the focus of the city's West End Revitalization Project, with money also going to the Shearer Road business park, the Slippery Rock Technology Park and Saxonburg-based II-VI Inc.The condition of city streets, however, remained a source of aggravation for city officials, residents and business owners. With no money for paving projects for the fifth year, followed by one of the hardest winters in recent history, the streets have remained in poor shape.City council turned to the city's Redevelopment Authority for help in the form of federal grants. While no paving took place in 2004, contracts are ready to bid as soon as February for a project estimated at more than $250,000.The city's parking authority and council approved the construction of a parking deck to be built over the South McKean Street parking lot to help ease parking problems that are sure to be aggravated in 2005 with the start of construction of the new Butler County Prison on the former city parking lots at South Washington and West Cunningham streets.

The year ended on a particularly violent note.In the last month of the year three people were murdered.In one of the murders, city resident Lynette Winner was stabbed to death and her rented house set on fire to try to cover the crime.Police have charged her husband, Denny Winner Sr., 44, of Butler, with her murder.On Dec. 12, Dawn Tusa, who was pregnant, was killed when her estranged husband fired a shot at her car as she was fleeing him and the bullet struck herProsecutors have filed charges for her death and the death of her unborn child.And on Dec. 23, Randall Raida, 29, of Gibsonia, Allegheny County, was shot and killed in a business parking lot where his girlfriend and the woman's ex-husband were in the process of a scheduled custody exchange.The ex-husband, Chad Sasse, of 128 Leasureville Road, has been charged with homicide.Earlier in the year, more civilized criminals were making news.Two sisters robbed stores in Butler and neighboring counties and were dubbed "the polite robbers" for their habit of saying please and thank you during their holdups.The two sisters confessed to Robinson Township police in Allegheny County that they were involved in a string of eight robberies and one attempted robbery in Allegheny, Butler and Washington counties from March 31 to April 9.Both the Fidelity Bank in Zelienople and a Jackson Township bank were robbed in August, just five days apart.The Honey Bear Store in Butler also was robbed for the eighth time in the past several years.In nearby Armstrong County, the murders of David and Rhonda Walters in their trailer on Jan. 12 resulted in the arrest of Rhonda Walter's sister, Heather Goedicke.The man who police believe Goedicke hired to kill the family, Donald Barnhart, 31, of Hyde Park, killed himself as authorities were closing in on him Jan. 16.In New Castle, 64-year-old Butler resident Willie Henry Smith was convicted of murder for killing 21-year-old Torrence Respress during a dispute at a New Castle residence on New Years Day 2003.Smith was sentenced to life in prison.Judith Wilson of Portersville, a midwife, was charged in the death of Isaac Daley,who died Nov. 21, 2002, two days after being born. An Allegheny County coroner's inquest in June determined the baby died due to complications from birth that could have been prevented if the birth had occurred in a hospital.Wilson was ordered to stand trial.Robert Atkinson of Allegheny County was caught in a financial scheme last year. He had scammed 116 people out of $11 million through an investment scheme.He was sentenced March 16 to 95 years in prison for those crimes.

Butler Memorial Hospital was in the news starting in January, when its board held a series of community meetings on its planned expansion.Late in the year, a consultant affirmed the board's intention to build a new hospital, which is expected to be on the campus of the Butler Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Butler Township.At the early meetings, Joseph Stewart, BMH's chief executive officer, explained the hospital's need for more space and an upgraded facility.By October, the hospital board had in hand a report from the consultant that backed the board's decision to pursue a new hospital at the VA site.The plan to build a new hospital at the VA site must be approved by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The George Junior Republic juvenile detention center in Pine Township, Mercer County, continued in the news.On June 9, Nathaniel McCoy, 16, drowned in Slippery Rock Creek after he and two other youths from the facility were taken on an unauthorized swimming trip by a counselor, Aaron J. Cujas.Charges against Cujas were dismissed.In the fall, Jeremy Melvin, 18, and Anthony Machicote, 17, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for killing counselor Wayne Urey Jr. during an escape.Amy M. Anderson, 34, a former counselor, pleaded guilty in January to charges in connection with an alleged five-month sexual relationship with a 16-year-old boy and was sentenced to 13 months to 3 years in prison.

Butler County will have its own juvenile detention center when Western Pennsylvania Child Care opens its 48-bed facility in summer or fall of 2005.Construction began last summer on the 40,000-square-foot facility in the Allegheny-Clarion Valley Industrial Park off Route 38 in Allegheny Township. It is expected to open in fall.

Work on the new $23.1 million Main Street Viaduct began in early June.The new bridge is scheduled to be finished by mid-2006. It will replace the old bridge, which was built in 1917, the fourth to span the Connoquenessing Creek at Main Street since Butler was founded in 1803.The new bridge is being built in phases and slightly to the south of the old bridge. A detour will only be needed when the new bridge is connected to Main Street during the last four months of construction.When the southbound section is completed, traffic will be diverted onto it and the detour won't be needed during final construction of the northbound portion.

The 75-year-old airport will extend its 4,000-foot runway by 800 feet after winning its two-year legal battle with Penn Township, whose supervisors unanimously denied permits for the project in 2002.Construction is set to begin in spring and take about a year to complete.

The national political campaigns focused much of their attention on Pennsylvania last year.Butler County hosted a visit from Vice President Dick Cheney on Oct. 13.County voters went for the Bush-Cheney ticket on Nov. 2, and also elected a Republican to the 11th District House seat in the Legislature.Brian Ellis' win over Democratic hopeful Fred Vero came via the most expensive House race in Butler County history. The two candidates combined spent more than $750,000.

Two former Butler priests were among four accused of sexual abuse in a lawsuit filed Jan. 14 against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, which is accused of covering up the alleged crimes.The Rev. M. Eric Diskin was a priest at St. Paul Roman Catholic Church on North McKean Street in the early 1970s. The Rev. Richard J. Dorsch was a priest at St. Michael the Archangel Roman Catholic Church on Center Avenue in the 1970s and 80s.

In July, Butler County had 27 confirmed cases of salmonella, part of a regional outbreak that sickened more than 280 people in five states. Pennsylvania health authorities said Roma tomatoes used in food items at Sheetz stores were the likely cause.James and Suzanne Groves of West Sunbury filed a lawsuit against Coronet Foods of Wheeling, W.Va., the supplier of the tomatoes. The complaint claims James Groves was hospitalized for three days after eating a sandwich purchased at a Sheetz store on July 2. Suzanne Groves also was diagnosed with the illness.

The Cranberry Connector project linking Interstate 79 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike was finished with the final ramp opening June 22.The connector was built to relieve traffic congestion on Routes 19 and 228 in Cranberry Township, where motorists had to exit to switch to either of the two highways.The $44 million project was the largest the state Department of Transportation has undertaken in Butler County.

The new $11.2 million Route 422 interchange at Route 68 was opened Nov. 19 after two years of construction.The intersection had been considered one of Butler County's most dangerous.The project included relocating the westbound on-ramp, which had been off Route 38, with a loop from Route 68, installation of traffic signals at both the eastbound and westbound ramps, widening two Route 422 bridges, a truck climbing lane on the eastbound Route 68 hill, and a truck pull-off lane going down the hill.

On Dec. 26 or early Dec. 27, a 55-year-old Ohio woman drowned after she accidentally drove her car onto frozen Lake Arthur at Moraine State Park and the vehicle crashed through the ice.Divers recovered the body of Betty Martsof of Warren on Tuesday andare waiting for ice to melt before retrieving the car from the bottom of the lake.

Continuing in its pattern of funding struggles, Butler County Community College had to make $200,000 in cuts to keep its budget balanced. BC3 trustees also raised tuition for the third year in a row to help make up for continued funding shortfalls from the state.The Moniteau School District sold the former Marion Elementary School to Sam Tiche in January. Tiche plans to use the building for a stone business.At Slippery Rock University, plans for an $110 million building project are in the works that will include several new residence halls, a new student union and an arts center. The project could take 10 years to complete.SRU chose Robert Smith as its new president.SRU and other state universities also signed a new four-year agreement with its professors after a bitter round of negotiations and threats of a strike.Teachers in the South Butler School District took a strike vote in early June, after having worked for more than a year without a contract. However, no strike occurred and a new contract was approved in November.Mars closed its Middle School and announced it will build a new one. It also approved $6 million to build new classrooms at the high school and moved its administrative offices to the old Middlesex Elementary School.The Slippery Rock School District borrowed $6.5 million to build a new gym and add on to the high school, and the Seneca Valley School board borrowed $11 million for various improvement projects.St. Mary's School, a Catholic school in Freeport, closed it doors in June because of low enrollment.

The museum on North McKean Street held its grand opening May 8 exhibiting Mary Hulton Phillips' private collection of Chinese ivories and jades, Japanese ivories and German Meissen porcelain figures.Phillips donated her 800-piece collection as well as the museum itself.