The past year saw tragedy and controversy in Warren County, often overshadowing positive but low-profile trends. The Daily News staff presents a synopsis of the most significant among the varied news stories of 2006:

1. Officer’s death

The first Bowling Green city police officer ever killed in the line of duty died Oct. 31, along with the man who was attacking him. Master Police Officer David Whitson, 34, and Rojelio Gonzalez-Pacheco, 26, of Edmonton were both apparently shot by other police officers.

Even as a retirement reception was in progress for retiring Interim Police Chief Jerry Wells at police headquarters, word came in that he and incoming Police Chief Doug Hawkins faced a tragedy.

Whitson and officers Beldon Parry and Erik Woodward answered a report of a knife-wielding man at 1036 Vine St., a house owned by Gonzalez-Pacheco’s brother and aunt.

Gonzalez-Pacheco attacked Whitson with two knives, and while the two struggled, at least one of the other officers fired. Whitson was killed by a single gunshot wound to the back. Gonzalez-Pacheco was killed by a single gunshot wound to the abdomen.

Parry and Woodward were placed on paid administrative leave; an investigation continues. Karla Gonzalez-Pacheco said she believed her brother-in-law was showing early signs of mental illness.

Whitson, a Gallatin, Tenn., native and 1996 graduate of Western Kentucky University, was an eight-year veteran of the department who worked in patrol and on the Neighborhood Response Team and the Explosive Recognition and Investigation Team.

He is survived by his wife, Holly Jennifer Whitson, 8-year-old son Jacob Aaron Whitson, and 5-year-old daughter Hannah Elizabeth Whitson. He was buried in Crestview Cemetery in his hometown.

Several local banks including BB&T, South Central Bank, Integra Bank, Monticello Banking Co., U.S. Bank, Kentucky Trust Bank, Independence Bank, National City Bank, Citizens First Bank, Franklin Bank and Farmers National Bank joined American Bank & Trust in accepting donations to the Officer David Whitson Memorial Fund. Gonzalez-Pacheco’s family sought to raise enough money to send his body home to Mexico for burial, his sister-in-law said.

2. Martin and Mitchell

Two prominent citizens were killed and a third seriously injured in a June 3 traffic accident in Logan County.

Cornelius Martin, 57, owner of numerous vehicle dealerships and chairman of Western Kentucky University’s board of regents, and Brooks Mitchell, 51, president of Hancock Bank & Trust and chairman of the Downtown Redevelopment Authority, were killed instantly on Ky. 79 when their motorcycles were struck head-on by a pickup truck driven by Mickey Mosher, 54, of Warsaw, Ind.

Martin, Mitchell and two fellow motorcyclists were on a sunny Saturday morning trip to Todd County. Their friend Bill Leachman, owner of Leachman Buick GMC, lost a leg in the crash. He came home in July after several surgeries. The fourth rider, Vette City Liquors owner Lloyd Ferguson, was shaken but unhurt. Mosher suffered only minor injuries.

Hundreds turned out for Martin’s and Mitchell’s funerals. Mosher, who told police she smoked marijuana 13 hours before the crash (a toxicology report said it was within three hours), said she took her eyes off the road while reaching for something and drifted across the center line. Free on $50,000 bond, she was indicted Aug. 11 on two counts of wanton murder, one count of first-degree assault, four counts of wanton endangerment, two counts of manslaughter, and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Mosher faces a maximum 120 years in prison. Her trial is set for Feb. 12.

3. Beech Bend

Entering its fourth year, the legal fight over access to a short strip at the end of Beech Bend Road drags on. The dispute between homeowner Matt Baker and Beech Bend Raceway Park owner Dallas Jones over 228 feet of access road has implications for development policy and the local economy.

In 2003 Baker claimed the road segment, used by Beech Bend for racetrack access and thus jammed with cars on summer weekends, as his private driveway. Jones said it was and had always been a county road open to the public.

In May 2005 Logan Circuit Judge Tyler Gill ruled in Baker’s favor, saying Warren Fiscal Court had inadvertently abandoned the last 76 yards of the road in a 1993 map ordinance. Jones appealed, and in August 2006 the Kentucky Court of Appeals said the disputed portion was indeed a county road and should be opened. But Baker asked the Kentucky Supreme Court to hear the case, and Gill declined to revisit his ruling until that decision comes.

Meanwhile, fiscal court backed away from a 2005 move to open it through eminent domain, and Baker unsuccessfully offered Jones limited access in exchange for long-term ownership.

After the appeals court ruling Baker filed suit saying Beech Bend itself should be closed, arguing it violated county zoning regulations. That brought area hotel and restaurant owners out in support of Jones.

In September, the Holley NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion announced it wouldn’t return to Beech Bend. NHRA officials said the 25,000-participant event had outgrown the venue but Jones blamed continued uncertainty over use of the road, and said more events are considering pulling out on that basis.

After months of lobbying by local officials, Gov. Ernie Fletcher announced a $300,000 grant in November to alleviate some Beech Bend traffic problems by widening and straightening the two-lane main entrance to the park, using land donated by neighboring landowner, businessman and former Beech Bend owner David Garvin.

4. Skate park

Work on a controversial 25,000-square-foot skate park got under way Aug. 7 in Roland Bland Park. It was cheered by the growing community of local skateboarders, inline skaters and bicyclists. The supporters, who tend to be younger, were countered by other, generally older adults who complained the $850,000 project was approved without enough public discussion.

The park was publicly championed by City Commissioner Brian &#8220Slim” Nash, who campaigned on it in 2004. It featured prominently in city budget talks, and designer Wally Hollyday held a series of public meetings to shape plans for the facility.

The park’s cost and questions about its likely use were brought up during almost every discussion of city spending or other projects’ merits, but Nash defended it during his 2006 re-election campaign, which he won by 17 votes.

Work on the park continues, somewhat behind schedule, as supporters still strive to raise money for two planned concrete bowls dropped from the original design. Meanwhile, the city seeks to sell sponsorships and advertisements for amenities like benches. The initial cost doesn’t include lights for security and nighttime skating, which are estimated to cost $80,000, and incoming city commissioners have expressed reluctance to spend any more on the park.

5. Chiefs

Bowling Green Police Chief Bill Waltrip and Fire Chief Gerry Brown simultaneously announced May 3 they would retire Aug. 1, after each had served almost 30 years with the city departments.

They said they’d reached their decisions independently, but under the state hazardous duty retirement plan, Aug. 1 is the date of annual pension increase calculations, and many police and firefighters choose that as their retirement date.

City officials quickly said they would search among current Bowling Green police and firefighters for new department chiefs, and found three eligible candidates for each job.

Police Lt. Col. Jerry Wells and Deputy Fire Chief Walter Jordan were chosen in July as interim chiefs, putting both of them out of the running for the permanent job. Each man also had many years’ service, and retired when their successors arrived: Wells on Nov. 1, and Jordan on Dec. 1.

Lt. Col. Doug Hawkins, with the police department since 1990, became the new police chief. Assistant Chief Greg Johnson, a city firefighter since 1987, was named fire chief.

Deputy Fire Chief Oscar Cherry was among the candidates for fire chief, but was under a series of duty restrictions emplaced by Brown after a May 2005 disciplinary hearing. During the chief selection process Cherry had an ongoing lawsuit against the city, seeking to have those restrictions removed. Two weeks after becoming chief, Johnson lifted almost all of Cherry’s restrictions. Cherry’s attorney Matt Baker amended the lawsuit to charge that the restrictions were put in place to keep Cherry from becoming chief, and that suit continues.

6. Election

The Nov. 7 election produced major changes nationwide, with Democrats seizing control of both houses of Congress for the first time in 12 years, but local results showed more continuity than change.

Warren County Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon sailed his well-financed campaign to an easy win over returning opponent Harold Brantley, whose campaign was dogged by questions about his advertising and fundraising tactics.

Richard Morgan took the District 2 seat on Warren Fiscal Court from Cedric Burnam by a narrow margin, and District 5 Magistrate Terry Young survived a six-way challenge, while magistrates James &#8220Doc” Kaelin and Eddie Beck were unopposed. Family Court Judge Catherine Holderfield won a four-way race to keep her seat, but many county-level offices like property valuation administrator and county attorney were unopposed in the general election.

Half of the Bowling Green city commission will change in the new year, with Bruce Wilkerson and former commissioner Joe Denning coming on to replace Mark Alcott, who didn’t seek a second term, and Delane Simpson, who lost a close race for the commission’s fourth seat.

Incumbent state senators and representatives generally coasted to re-election, but Rep. Steve Nunn in Glasgow lost to Johnny Bell while Rep. Terry Shelton of Magnolia lost to Dottie Sims. U.S. Rep. Ron Lewis bucked the national trend to defeat Democratic State Rep. Mike Weaver for the 2nd District congressional seat.

Local races weren’t easy to call early, however, due to major headaches from the software used with new electronic voting machines. Clerks in many Kentucky counties, including Warren, found vote totals from different types of machines wouldn’t mesh, resulting in hours of waiting for candidates and voters watching results. The problems, supposedly fixed by software suppliers after the May primary, kept guessing going in several close races and resulted in recanvasses of the Burnam-Morgan fiscal court race and Simpson’s city commission bid, though results did not change.

7. Kentucky Guard

More than three years of war in Iraq bit deeper into Bowling Green as local soldiers rotated to and from assignments there, and two men with local ties were killed by insurgents’ improvised explosive devices.

In June, 105 soldiers from the Bowling Green-based Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 123rd Armor, left for several months of training at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, before heading for Iraq. A few days later the unit’s Medics Platoon and Mortar Platoon came home after almost a year in Ramadi, Iraq.

On March 23, Staff Sgt. Brock A. Beery, 30, from the 2nd Battalion, 123rd Armor was killed near Habbaniyah, Iraq. He was a native of Warsaw, Ind., and a resident of White House, Tenn., but his funeral was held in Bowling Green because his unit was based here.

On May 16, Army Staff Sgt. Santiago M. &#8220Taygo” Halsel, 32, C Company, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, was killed in Baghdad. He was a Bowling Green resident and 1993 graduate of Warren East High School.

8. WKU football

Western Kentucky University will move to the most competitive level of college football by 2009, the board of regents decided Nov. 2 after a months-long campaign by President Gary Ransdell and Athletics Director Wood Selig.

The switch to 1-A football is expected to cost $2.5 million a year for more coaches’ pay, scholarships, travel and classes, with much of that coming from a $70 student fee. This year’s state budget included authority for tens of millions in bond money to build another half to L.T. Smith Stadium.

The change will move football players from the Gateway Conference to the Sun Belt Conference, in which the rest of the university’s athletic teams already play, pitting them against teams from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee and Texas.

Western’s football games attracted an average of 13,000 fans last year, and Ransdell said he expects to easily increase that to the 15,000 which the NCAA demands of 1-A schools.

In September, Ransdell said he would take the proposal to regents for a November vote. Faculty expressed considerable opposition, and the idea drew a slim margin of support from staff and lukewarm support from students – only about 19 percent of whom voted in an online poll – but regents voted 7-2 to go to 1-A.

Faculty Regent Robert Deitle voted against it, saying Ransdell had stifled real discussion of the reasons and costs of the change; he was joined in voting no by Regent Forrest Roberts of Owensboro. Staff Regent Tamela Smith abstained after other regents cut off debate at the meeting.

9. Growth

Warren County continued adding residents and businesses at a rapid pace, as Bowling Green sought to manage traffic problems and bring people back to its downtown.

Work started on the one-block Circus Square Park and the low-cost housing development Lee Square, both between State and College streets. Booth Fire & Safety, formerly on the Circus Square site, began renovating a historic building nearby, but the Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center planned for the park’s other side still hasn’t begun raising any money for its construction, while talk of attracting a baseball team to a downtown stadium faded.

City and county officials made strides on building new roads, sidewalks and trails. It was another boom year for house building, especially in unincorporated subdivisions around the city. Bowling Green began reflecting this growth in new signs claiming 62,000 residents, rather than the 50,000 who actually live inside city limits.

Commercial development continued along Scottsville Road, with Sam’s Club opening in January and several new stores popping up near Greenwood Mall. Gander Mountain outdoor outfitters announced in December plans for a major store, and Camping World plans to move its call center from Denver, Colo., to Bowling Green.

Factories including Pan-Oston made expansion plans to add hundreds of jobs, and The Medical Center geared up for a $56 million enlargement.

The Bosnian and Hispanic communities increased their economic presence, particularly through restaurants and stores including Verdi, The Cellar, Mercadito Hispano, La Espiga and Taco Fiesta.

10. AGR goat

Police response to a seemingly routine disturbance call Feb. 16 at the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity house on Chestnut Street led to the discovery of a goat in a basement closet. Answering an early-morning loud-party call, city police officers discovered the goat surrounded by its own excrement, human vomit and unrolled condoms. A fraternity member told them AGR pledges would have to have sex with the goat, though members later told investigators pledges would be stopped at the last minute.

The malnourished, &#8220skittish” male animal was taken to the Bowling Green-Warren County Humane Society, where an exam found small abrasions in its rectum.

Trenton Dakota Jackson, 19, a Henderson freshman at Western Kentucky University, was charged with second-degree cruelty to animals, while the fraternity was cited by the school for hazing, underage drinking and violation of the university alcohol policy.

The AGR chapter was suspended from Western for three years. Any further university discipline of individual members was kept secret, but all 29 members signed a public letter of apology.

In March, Jackson filed an Alford plea – not admitting guilt, but acknowledging that there was enough evidence to convict him – and received 10 hours of community service, a $75 fine (which went to the humane society) and was barred from owning pets for a year.