TMP photo by Kelly Hite. Community members banned together to say no to Bible Park USA.

While Rutherford County had suffered much less and for briefer periods during previous national economic downturns, the 2008 financial distresses hit at a huge economic engine here in the realty and homebuilding industries.

Those difficulties impacted the rest of the economy, slowing retail sales and helping increase the unemployment rate. Retail sales failed to reach governmental projections for the first time since 9/11 while unemployment hit the highest mark, more than 6 percent, since George H.W. Bush was president.

That overall economic impact is The Murfreesboro Post’s top story for 2008.

Home sales in Rutherford County plummeted 30 percent from 2007 figures.

Some 5,227 sales were recorded in 2007, according to the Middle Tennessee Association of Realtors. Through November 2008, only 3,506 homes were sold.

Local experts say home sales declined due to the unstable economy and the tightening of lending practices.

Real estate market analyst Edsel Charles has said it will likely be fall 2009 before Rutherford County is “out of the woods” if homes keep selling at the current rate.

Other top stories for 2008 were:

2. Bible Park at Blackman – Few, if any issues, have created more community debate and controversy than a Bible-based theme park proposed in the Blackman community.

More than a year after Armon BarTar presented a plan to build a $175 million-200 million, 282-acre biblically themed park in the Blackman community and create potentially hundreds of jobs, the County Commission voted May 16 to reject a zoning change to allow the project to go forward.

“We’ve told the developer since the beginning that we had concerns it didn’t fit with the Blackman Land Use Plan,” Planning Commissioner Doug Demosi told the commission. However, Demosi also said the developer had done everything possible to mitigate public concern with the park and its impact on the largely residential Blackman Community.

The proposal produced a huge grassroots effort in the Blackman community to thwart the park with opponents outmaneuvering park proponents by utilizing a seldom used zoning rule requiring two-thirds commissioner approval if 20 percent of adjoining landowners objected and filed petitions.

Even though the rezoning request drew a majority 12-9 vote, it failed to meet the two-thirds requirement.

The vote came after a contentious, at times uncivil, six-hour debate with dozens of private, business and religious leaders speaking.

The Shelton family, which owns the 240 acres optioned by SafeHarbor, LLC for the development of Bible Park USA, filed suit against Rutherford County in June challenging the county’s denial of the park’s rezoning request.

In the lawsuit, the Sheltons claimed petitions filed in opposition to the park by surrounding landowners were invalid and that County Attorney Jim Cope overstepped the bounds of his job by ruling the petitions valid.

Chancellor Robert Corlew agreed and sent the decision back to the Rutherford County commission to decide whether a supermajority vote was required.

The county is appealing the ruling.

The Bible Park developers secured a tentative agreement for a site in Wilson County near state Route 840, but officials there failed to approve a funding plan, leaving the park in limbo at year’s end.

3. November election – While a large majority of the nation picked President-elect Barak Obama, Rutherford County followed the Tennessee trend and voted for John McCain in November.

Rutherford became a truly red county as it also voted Republican on the state level and played a major role in that party taking control of both of the state legislative chambers for the first time since Reconstruction.

Joe Carr’s close win over Democrat Tim Tipps in the marginally Democratic 48th District proved to be the one seat difference as the GOP claimed a majority in the state house, 50-49, giving it control in both legislative chambers.

In addition to new leadership at the state legislative level, the Republicans’ victory will also allow the party to pick state constitutional officers, take control of all county election commissions and draw new political boundaries if they maintain control in two years after the federal census.

4. Girl hit by deputy’s car, dies – A tragic accident resulting in the death of an 11-year-old girl who was struck by a Rutherford County Sheriff detective’s car July 17 became a major controversy when Murfreesboro police officers investigating the traffic accident failed to collect evidence.

Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Ron Killings struck Lakeisha White, 11, of Hopkinsville, Ky., on Bradyville Pike when the girl allegedly darted into the roadway.

Controversy erupted when investigating officers failed to collect liquor bottles accident witnesses said Killings removed from the trunk of his car and disposed of along the road.

White’s family collected two bottles and gave them to an attorney who turned them over to Murfreesboro police. One bottle was linked to Killings and a second one was analyzed for Killings’ fingerprints at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Crime Laboratory.

Former District Attorney Joe Baugh of Franklin was appointed to investigate the incident after White’s family asked District Attorney William Whitesell to allow another prosecutor to handle the case.

Baugh is expected to present his findings to a grand jury early next year.

White’s family filed a $7.5 million lawsuit against Killings and the sheriff’s department.

Killings was placed on administrative leave but returned to his job after a blood-alcohol test showed no presence of alcohol.

Murfreesboro Police Chief Glenn Chrisman placed Sgt. Sam Campbell of the Fatal Accident Crash Team on administrative leave Aug. 8 after he failed to collect the two bottles of alcohol at the crash scene and later removed him from his position and also disciplined another officer.

5. New MTMC under construction – Ten years in planning and development, officials with Middle Tennessee Medical Center broke ground in April on a new $268 million medical center, the centerpiece of the Murfreesboro Gateway — the city’s premier location for new retail, office and residential development — set to open in November 2010.

Gordon Ferguson, chief executive officer of MTMC, said the construction of the new 560,000-square-foot hospital on Medical Center Parkway is one of the most significant milestones in the 81-year history of the former Rutherford Hospital.

“Well, its looks like we made it,” he remarked as he opened the ceremony under a massive tent set up adjacent to the hospital construction site. “Many thought it would never come.”

Construction began on the 286-bed facility —70 more than the existing hospital — in January. The new facility is expected to increase employment at the hospital by 100.

The new MTMC is designed around the concept of providing a healing and spiritual environment.

Murfreesboro Mayor Tommy Bragg compared the groundbreaking to the birth of a baby.

“Bring this new facility into the world, and it is going to be a world-class facility,” he said.

Bragg said the excellence of the MTMC medical community and medical staff sets the city of Murfreesboro apart.

Middle Tennessee Medical Center is a member of Saint Thomas Health Services, a faith-based ministry with more than 7,200 associates serving Middle Tennessee. Besides MTMC, Saint Thomas Health Services consists of three hospitals: Baptist and Saint Thomas Hospitals in Nashville and Hickman Community Hospital in Centerville. It is a member of Ascension Health, a Catholic organization that is the largest nonprofit health system in the country.

MTMC was sold to St. Thomas Health Services in 1986. The sale resulted in the formation of the Christy-Houston Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to improving the quality of life in Rutherford County, focusing on health care.

The foundation awarded MTMC a grant for $10 million, to be paid out in $ 1 million increments over the next 10 years, toward the construction of the facility. The foundation has provided the largest gift in the hospital’s capital campaign to raise funds to support the construction of the new hospital.

MTMC will name its 21,000-square-foot emergency department at the new facility after the foundation.

In 2003, the Christy-Houston gave $3 million to MTMC for the purchase of 68.5 acres – the site of its future hospital, which kicked off the development of the Murfreesboro Gateway.

6. Embassy Suites and Conference Center opens – Another long-awaited project opened in the Gateway complex as Embassy Suites and Conference Center opened in early fall. The conference center was the genesis for the Gateway project more than 12 years ago.

The need for a conference center had been identified in the 1990s and finally came to fruition at 1200 Conference Center Blvd. off Medical Center Parkway adjacent to The Avenue lifestyle center and Interstate 24.

The 10-story, 283-suite Embassy Suites Hotel and conference center was developed by Springfield, Mo.-based John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts LLC, and has 43,325 square feet of meeting and event space. Hammons is the leading independent builder, developer, owner and manager of upscale, full-service hotels.

The center immediately became popular as the venue of choice for several of the major charitable fundraising events in the community.

The 28,800-square-foot grand ballroom is the third largest in the greater Nashville area just behind two ballrooms located within the Opryland Hotel, said Phil Martin, a hotel spokesperson.

Overall, the conference center has 21 breakout rooms. The ballrooms are named after large Rutherford County subdivisions

The Mirabella grand ballroom can accommodate 2,000-seated guests and 4,000 for a reception, said Becky Vealey, Embassy Suites sales and marketing manager.

The Oakleigh junior ballroom can accommodate 500-seated guests.

Some of the first events booked at the conference center are the Tennessee Society of Association Executives Trade Show, the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce’s annual banquet and the Society for Military History.

Construction of the Embassy Suites Hotel and conference center was estimated to be at $70 million. The facility is expected to generate more than $23 million in annual revenue and have a projected annual economic impact of $39 million.

Embassy Suites room rates range from $149 a night to $650 for one of the hotel’s two presidential suites.

More than 1,500 applied for the 225 or so jobs available at the Embassy Suites.

7. 25-yard-old murder case solved – A 1982 murder was solved Sept. 15 when a jury convicted the victim’s then wife and her current husband of first-degree murder in the hired killing of Lynn Orrand,

Kevin Patterson, Candance Bush’s brother, testified she and Bush hired him to kill Orrand for $5,000 and a place to live.

Lynn Orrand, 32, of Peachtree Street was shot and killed while hunting Jan. 16, 1982 off Richland Road. The Bushes pleaded not guilty.

The couple has appealed the conviction.

8. City installs red light cameras – A constant source of frustration and complaints from Murfreesboro motorists prompted Murfreesboro to install automated cameras at key intersections to catch drivers running red lights.

From July 5 through Sept. 30, 6,626 citations were issued to light runners from the cameras, resulting in more than $330,000 in fines and a reduction in crashes by 2.13 percent overall in the first three months of service.

The cameras were installed at South Church Street and Middle Tennessee Boulevard, Memorial and Northfield boulevards, and South Rutherford and Mercury boulevards on June 1.

The remaining three intersections – Old Fort Parkway and West Thompson Lane, Northwest Broad Street and West Northfield Boulevard and Broad and South Church streets – went online July 5.

The intersections were chosen specifically because they have the most crashes and injuries resulting from red-light running, MPD Spokesman Kyle Evans explained when the cameras were installed.

Information from the first three months of service in 2008 show the rate of side-angle or T-bone crashes fell by 8.87 percent over 2007 and overall crashes fell by a little more than 2 percent.

But read-end crashes saw a slight increase of 1.89 percent over the same period when compared to last year.

9. School bus incidents, cameras – Two shocking incidents on school buses had Rutherford County School Board members closely studying proposals to install security cameras on all buses as 2008 drew to a close.

A 14-year-old, female high school student was sexually assaulted by an older student in one incident while a bus driver suffered a broken leg in a physical altercation with two male students prompting the board to move ahead on an issue that had been under consideration last spring.

10. O’Charley’s manager murdered – An O’Charley’s assistant manager was shot to death during a robbery Feb. 3 at the Memorial Boulevard restaurant.

Antonio D. Alexander, 46, of Byler Court in Smyrna, who had been convicted of two previous robberies, is charged with firing a gun through a door and killing assistant manager Nadir Bahmanziari, a husband and father of two children.

District Attorney William Whitesell filed documents giving Alexander and his attorney, Barry Tidwell, notice he plans to seek the death penalty if Alexander is convicted of first-degree murder.

If death is not imposed, Whitesell seeks a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A fundraiser for the Bahmanziari family drew hundreds to the O’Charley’s restaurant and raised more than $3,000 in personal donations.

11. MMC moving to new facilities – Murfreesboro Medical Clinic followed the development in the Gateway as several of its medical operations moved to a new facility at 1272 Garrison Drive in late July and will eventually move all operations from the Highland Avenue site.

The nearly 80,000-square-foot facility now houses MMC’s gastroenterology, otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat), ophalmology, general surgery and radiology departments.

The first floor of the new building will contain the surgery center, radiology and laboratory. The second floor is clinical space for physicians, and the third floor is third-party lease space and other operations area.

A comprehensive breast center and physical therapy will be available in the new facility.

Construction began July 2007. The total construction cost is estimated at $15 million-16 million.