As Americans, the new Millennium brought 9-11, the first black president, a financial collapse and technology beyond our wildest dreams. And while all of those things touch our lives, there are many influential events unique to our neck of the woods, Texoma. While it's impossible to name them all, here's a look back at the top ten stories of the decade.

We begin the countdown with one of the most recent stories that barely made it into the last decade: the new Texoma Medical Center. 5 years in the making, the $37 million project finally opened its doors this week.

"If you're in the healthcare profession, building a hospital of this magnitude, transferring the patients you transfer, putting the technology in here, running an old hospital from a new hospital, that is a once in a lifetime, once in a profession opportunity," said Randy Truxal, Director of Administration at TMC.

Number nine takes us back to 2006 where sweeping wildfires and devastating drought wreaked havoc on Texoma during the spring and summer months. Smoke filled the skies of Texas and Oklahoma as homes, land and livelihoods were lost that year. And as Sherman Fire Chief Jeff Jones looks back to fighting those fires, he recalls the daily battles and the lessons learned.

"Everyday you'd wake up and people would call in reports of smoke in the air and you really didn't know if that was a new fire, a fire from yesterday down south, if the wind was out of the west, out blowing from Cooke County. So it really caused some unusual responses and again, that's what we've learned and hopefully better prepared now," said Jones.

Next at number eight is possibly one of the most ongoing stories of the decade: the closing of Lake Texoma Lodge and the development of Pointe Vista. Surrounded by controversy, talks about closing down the Lodge near Kingston, Oklahoma, began all the way back in 2003. Lake Texoma Lodge was shut down in fall 2006. It wasn't until this past December in 2009 that demolition began.

Number seven is a murder case few will forget in Grayson County: Andre Thomas was convicted of capital murder for killing his wife and two children back in March 2004. Just days after the murders Thomas gouged out his left eye. In March of 2005, a Grayson County Jury sentenced Thomas with the death penalty.

"It's just a tragedy, it's just unspeakable what happened, I don't think Andre was right in his mind, I mean he was found to be competent and sane at the time,” said Thomas’ defense attorney R.J. Hagood back in 2005.

The Grayson County District Attorney Joe Brown was pleased with the sentencing.

"The result for the most serious crime is the most serious penalty and I have confidence that he'll be put to death one day,” said Brown in 2005.

Then, this past year Thomas was back in the headlines when he gouged out his remaining eye and ate it while in the Grayson County Jail. He now sits in a psychiatric prison facility in Richmond, Texas. No execution date has been set yet.

Coming in at number six: the church shootings in the small town of Sash in 2005 that made national headlines. On August 29th of that year, A.P. Crenshaw killed four people, including the pastor of the Sash Assembly of God Church. After a nine hour standoff with SWAT teams, Crenshaw turned the gun on himself, ending the killing spree.

Here's a look back at how those in the Church's congregation dealt with the loss of their beloved pastor.

"He's a fine preacher, and we all loved him very much, the church was growing, we loved him and his wife, Diane she was a sweet person, but we're going to miss brother James," said Hancock right after the killings in 2005.

A little over four years later life does carry on, as we spoke to Bill Hancock and other witnesses today. While they didn't want to go on camera, they said though not forgotten, they've moved on.

"It is a tragedy, but we're going to overcome it," said Hancock.

Number five is the tale of hometown hero Sully Sullenberger, the pilot who saved the lives of 150 passengers when he landed a commercial plane in the Hudson River almost a year ago. Sullenberger is a native of Denison and a yellow Jacket, he graduated from Denison High School in 1969.

Number four takes us back a few years to October of 2004 when shooting standoff in downtown Sherman held the city on lockdown. Charles Anthony Owen fired a shotgun from his 3rd story apartment on Travis Street hitting Frisco detective Leah Apple in the abdomen and hip. The standoff lasted several hours until police stormed the building that night, only to find Owen already dead. He had shot himself once in the head.

The top three events are perhaps some of the most moving of the decade if not in Texoma's history.

Next, at number three, is the Lone Grove tornado that ripped through Carter County on February 9th, 2009, taking the lives of eight people. With speeds topping 165 miles per hour, this EF-4 twister destroyed dozens of homes and businesses across the area.

KXII’s storm chaser Doug Drace followed the tornado that night and gave live reports as he literally watched it descend from the sky:

"A large tornado with power flashes going off, due south of Lone Grove, oh my gosh there are some very strong inflow winds coming into it right now,” said Drace during one of those reports as the funnel formed.

The next morning following the deadly tornado was one of devastation as the nation caught its first glance of the ruined Oklahoma town.

“She said there was nothing left of the house, but surely I thought there would be something, but it’s destroyed there’s nothing,” said a tornado victim the day after.

The second most significant story of the decade is also a rarely seen natural disaster: The flooding of Lake Texoma in 2007. Relentless rains beginning in May caused the waters to rise up, finally peeking at 640 feet on July 13th.

"The Corps closed the spillway and it became really evident that we were in deep trouble, so actually where you're standing right now you would have been 10 feet underwater," said the General Manager of High Port Marina, Tim Hayes. He was talking about his entire business almost completely underwater during those floods.

That summer the entire lake was nearly shut down as not only marinas, but surrounding businesses and homes flooded. Hayes still remembers what it was like to watch his marina become overrun with the waters.

"The feelings were anxiety, how can we possibly handle the eminent flood that was coming in? But then we put our heads together and we came up with an action plan and worked our way through it and you just do it, you react and make things happen," said Hayes.

Now, a little over two years later, some of those businesses never reopened, and Hayes says they're still not done rebuilding what was lost.

Finally we reach the number one most important story of the decade. And though a sobering event, it's one that will never be forgotten here in Texoma: The Sherman bus crash on August 8th, 2008, where 17 people lost their lives.

Sherman Fire Chief Jeff Jones recalls the scene when he arrived not ten minutes after the accident that summer night.

"When I arrived it was pretty surreal to see a large passenger bus on its side, still on fire. The first paramedic came up to me, in fact he was in charge of triage, and he said you know I've got 12 dead right now and I don't know how many more dead on the bus, we're working as fast as we can to evacuate them but we're going to need a lot of help," said Jones.

For such tragedy to happen here in Texoma was heartbreaking. The victims were Vietnamese church members from Houston traveling to Missouri on a mission trip. Jones says those that survived were badly injured. And it's still something he struggles to talk about to this day.

"When you say bus crash, I still personally, a little shiver goes down my spine.... you can write it on paper all day long but until it really happens there to your face and somebody looks you in the eye and says I've got 12 dead and 10 more are going to die if we don't do something real quick... For me at that point I’m the guy in charge, I’m the guy everybody’s looking at. Oh my gosh, this is real, and you've really got to make some decisions and you've got to make the right decisions or things are going to go bad in a hurry,” said Jones.

The National Transportation Safety Board recently determined a punctured tire caused that crash and the largest emergencies Sherman rescue workers have ever faced.

While there were many more stories that we couldn't fit into the countdown, it's now a time to create new memories, deal with inevitable new tragedies and move forward into 2010.

And as for the most viewed web story of the entire decade, it’s a surprising one with 264,550 views:

Bizarre stabbing in Fannin County