Who Remembers These 10 Kentucky News Stories from 20 Years Ago?

I'm old enough to remember when 20 years was a long period of time. Now it feels more like 20 days. Pouring over stories from 2004 has been a real mind-blower. I can't believe some of that stuff--what I remember, anyway--happened so long ago.

I would say it's a personal reason why it feels like time compressed. My dad was Santa Claus at Towne Square Mall and on Fridays at Holiday World that summer. He passed away in January of 2005, so those were his final seasons as Old Saint Nick. That's what makes it so hard to believe.

Mitchell Memorial Cancer Center

To be honest, searching "Owensboro 2004" has yielded a ton of results about local high school sports scores but little in the way of news of the day. But I did learn that 2004 was the year the Mitchell Memorial Cancer opened on Breckenridge Street. See? It does not feel like that building has been there that long.

McConnell Plaza

And then there's this...do you know how long you've enjoyed the McConnell Plaza on the Owensboro riverfront? Yes, I should've issued a "rhetorical question" alert. It was 2004 when it was dedicated. Again, 20 years? Really?

ROMP Begins

Quick, what does ROMP actually stand for? It's been so long since the phrase has been applied to the event, some may not even know it IS an acronym. But in 2004, the first year for the festival, we and the organizers called it what it was...the River of Music Party. And since it was held at English Park ON the river, it fit. Now that it's held at the far more spacious Yellow Creek Park and has evolved into a major national music festival, it's ROMP all the way.

And now, let's take a look at some other Kentucky news stories from 2004. Weather factors into half of them, but in the Commonwealth, that isn't surprising.