STORIES OF THE CENTURY: GIVE US YOUR CHOICES

The Associated Press has long compiled an annual list of the Top Ten stories of the year, both nationally and in individual states. With the millennium drawing to a close, we would like your help in selecting not the Top Ten stories of the year but the Top Ten stories of the century in Missouri.

We have prepared a ballot listing some of the main stories or events in Missouri during the 1900s. The list includes some of the stories from Southeast Missouri that we think also deserve consideration. Please read through the list of both state and Southeast Missouri suggested stories and choose those from both lists that you believe should be the Top Ten of the century, ranking them by numbers 1 through 10. If there are stories not included on the list that you think should rank among the Top Ten, please include them in the space provided at the bottom of the list. We also would be interested in any comments you care to make about your selections. Please include them on a separate sheet of paper.

The deadline for submissions is Monday, Nov. 22, so mail or deliver your list as soon as possible. We will publish the results of the poll. Thanks in advance for your help.

Ballot for Top Ten Stories of the Century _____The Great Floods of 1903, 1951 and 1993 take lives, cause millions of dollars in damages, alter course of major rivers. _____The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, better-known as the St. Louis World's Fair, offers exhibits from 43 states and 62 countries and draws 20 million people in a nine-month run; the Olympic Games, held in conjunction with the fair, are the first held in the Western Hemisphere (1904). _____Voters approve changing the state Constitution to allow the initiative and referendum process, letting the people launch and vote on laws (1908)._____Missouri State Capitol destroyed by fire in 1911; present Capitol building completed in 1918 at cost of $4.2 million._____Voters adopt nine constitutional amendments in 1920, including one authorizing a $60 million bond issue to finance a state road system and "pull Missouri out of the mud;" the following year, state approves the Centennial Road Law to organize a state highway system._____St. Louis loses 22 breweries after prohibition goes into effect in 1920; of the nine that resumed beer-production after it ended in 1933, Anheuser-Busch grows to become the nation's largest._____The St. Louis Cardinals win their first World Series during a century that saw them make 15 fall classics, winning nine of them (1926)._____Tornadoes kills 98 at Poplar Bluff in May, 78 at St. Louis in September (1927)._____Completion of Bagnell Dam, which results in creation of the Lake of the Ozarks, a major factor in making Missouri a popular recreation destination (1931)._____Bennie Moten, Count Basie and other stars make Kansas City jazz famous throughout the world in the swing era of the 1930s and 1940s._____State voters in 1940 adopt what comes to be known as the "Missouri Plan" for non-partisan selection of judges, a system widely copied by other states; the plan is retained in new Constitution adopted in 1945._____Reformers gain control of city government in Kansas City, ending 16-year reign of one of the nation's most powerful political bosses, Tom Pendergast (1940)._____The political career of Harry S. Truman carries him from being a Jackson County official to the U.S. Senate as the candidate backed by the Pendergast machine and then to the presidency in 1945 upon the wartime death of Franklin D. Roosevelt._____Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivers his "Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College in Fulton, popularizing a chilling new term for the polarization of postwar Europe (1946)._____Ruskin Heights tornado kills 44 in Kansas City, 13 others elsewhere (1957)._____Completion at St. Louis of the Gateway Arch, which comes to symbolize Missouri throughout the nation and the world (1965)._____Sen. Thomas Eagleton picked as Democratic vice presidential nominee, then resigns from ticket amid controversy over past treatment for depression (1972)._____School desegregation lawsuits filed at St. Louis in 1972 and Kansas City in 1977 lead to years of litigation, with the state of Missouri ordered to pay millions of dollars to cure long-standing and still unresolved problems._____Thirty-six die when Ozark Airline plane crashes at St. Louis (1973)._____Congressman Jerry Litton, his wife, two children and two others killed when plane crashes at Chillicothe as they head for victory night party celebrating his nomination for nomination for the U.S. Senate (1976)._____Heat wave kills more than 300 as temperatures soar above 100 for three weeks in late June and July (1980)._____Collapse of skywalk during Friday afternoon dance at Kansas City's Hyatt Hotel kills 114 (1981).____Branson develops into a major national tourist destination as country music entertainers and then other perfomers build 34 theaters there in a 10-year span starting in 1983._____Harriett Woods elected lieutenant governor, becoming the first woman in state history to win a state-wide office (1984)._____The Callaway nuclear power plant begins operation (1984)._____The Missouri Lottery begins (1986)._____In Webster vs. Reproductive Health Services, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds key provisions of Missouri's restrictions on abortion (1989)._____George "Tiny" Mercer put to death for the 1978 rape and murder of a Kansas City waitress as Missouri resumes executions after 24 years (1989)._____Earthquake scare at New Madrid captures national attention following prediction by Iben Browning, but turns out to be a bust (1990)._____In the right-to-die case of Nancy Cruzan, a young woman left in a persistent vegetative state by an auto accident, the U.S. Supreme Court says her parents can prove by "clear and convincing" evidence that she would have wanted life-sustaining measures withdrawn. After a hearing a Missouri judge authorizes removal of a feeding tube and Cruzan dies 12 days later (1990)._____Casino gambling comes to Missouri as the first riverboats begin operating on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers (1994)._____Missouri Supreme Court votes unanimously to impeach Secretary of State Judi Moriarty after finding her guilty of misconduct (1994)._____Former Missouri House Speaker Bob Griffin, who held that job longer than anyone in state history before resigning under the pressure of investigations of irregularities, pleads guilty to bribery and mail fraud and is sentenced to four years in prison (1997)._____St. Louis Cardinal slugger Mark McGwire caps his home run race with Chicago's Sammy Sosa by hitting two homers on the last day of the season for a major league record total of 70 (1998)._____Pope John Paul II visits St. Louis (1999).STORIES OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI INTEREST:_____Drainage of the swamps in Southeast Missouri (turn of the century)._____Tenant-farmers roadside strike._____Earthquake scare at New Madrid captures national attention following prediction by Iben Browning, but turns out to be a bust (1990)._____1949 tornado in Cape._____Oscar Hirsch and the development of radio and television._____Rise of Rush Limbaugh._____Rush Limbaugh Sr. (oldest practicing lawyer in U.S. history)._____Wayne Cryts' soybean seizure._____Piedmont and other UFO sightings (1970s)._____River ports allowed (early 1970s)_____Tri-State tornado (March 18, 1925)._____Spanish Influenza epidemic (1918-19)._____Polio epidemic (1949)._____Commerce lion hunt._____Destruction of Normal School by fire (1902)._____Billy Sunday campaign in Cape._____Show Me Center opens (1986)._____Others not listedComments (Please include separate sheet of paper if necessary):