The first decade of the 21st Century ends this year. Because of that, the Eagle is publishing a look back at major events that occurred in the past 10 years. Each year will run in one day's edition. This is the second in this series.———The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Somerset County, shocked Butler County and rest of the nation.Many employers, including the county, sent home their workers.School districts were divided on what action to take that day. For example, students in the Moniteau School District were allowed to watch history unfold on television while officials in the Butler School District turned off televisions to shield students from the horror of hijacked aircraft destroying the twin World Trade Center towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington.Volunteers from the county set out to volunteer at Ground Zero in New York, while others posted their patriotism on their business marquees, vehicles and sleeves.Many people grieved for the thousands of strangers whose lives were claimed.———Two Union Volunteer Fire Department firefighters drowned in Slippery Rock Creek in April while trying to recover the body of a submerged kayaker in McConnells Mill State Park, Lawrence County.Assistant Chief Anthony "Tony" Murdick and firefighter Scott Wilson, both 25, were dive specialists but both were dragged under by the creek's swift current.Hundreds of firefighters attended their funeral services.Two plaques, honoring the firefighters, hang in the fire station.———Arid conditions and temperatures soaring above 90 degrees by August forced municipalities to issue burning bans and county residents to reduce their water usage.The first burning ban was Aug. 6 in Evans City, but Zelienople, and Summit Township soon followed suit.By mid-month, Pennsylvania-American Water had requested its customers conserve water in Butler, Chicora and Evans City.The Oneida, Thorn Run and Boydstown reservoirs dwindled to below 60 percent capacity, and water conservation would have become mandatory had they hit 50 percent, which did not happen.Not until the end of November when a five-day rainfall hit, did a drought watch issued by the state Department of Environmental Protection end.But many farmers lost crops.By year's end, the U.S. Department of Agriculture had begun to offer low interest loans to farmers in the county and across the state who had suffered financially due to the drought.———Tammy Felbaum, a 43-year-old transsexual, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal castration of her husband at their Marion Township mobile home.A pathologist ruled James Felbaum, 40, had died of pain from the crude operation and a high dose of painkillers, which suppressed his gag reflex, causing him to choke to death on his own vomit.She served her sentence for that crime, but she remains in state prison for threatening Butler County officials.———The Butler, South Butler, Moniteau, Mars, and Slippery Rock school districts all continued their construction projects from 2000, and a Butler elementary school won a national award.Butler's $11 million in renovation funds went primarily to the Emily Brittain and Broad Street elementary schools, while minor repairs were made top the Butler Intermediate High School.Butler's Broad Street Elementary School received a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence award.South Butler started work on its $13.3 million project to build South Butler Primary School and renovate Saxonburg Elementary School.Slippery Rock spent $3.8 million to renovate and expand Har-Mer Elementary School, while Moniteau began it's $11 million renovation of Dassa McKinney Elementary School with the intent to close North Washington Elementary School for the 2003-2004 academic year, when renovations were complete.Seneca Valley began its $36.7 million project to expand its intermediate and middle schools.