The 2006 Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration dispute was chosen Bedford County's number one story of the year by a Times-Gazette readers' poll. Crowds left the stands early on the final day of the show after announcement there would be no stake class. Despite the night's letdown, the crowd was relatively quiet following the announcement. (T-G file photo by Gary Johnson) [Click to enlarge]

In an unscientific poll, readers of the Times-Gazette web site overwhelmingly picked the regulatory dispute in the Tennessee Walking Horse industry as the top local news story of 2006.

The web site poll began over the weekend, in conjunction with the Times-Gazette announcing that a poll of staff members had selected the shooting of Fermin Estrada Sr. as the year's top story. The 10 stories from the news staff's list, along with two others which had closely missed the top 10, were posted to the web site and web site readers were asked to make their own picks. The poll continued until Wednesday afternoon.

Here is how 229 web site readers voted:

1) Regulatory dispute hits Celebration; no World Grand Champion named, 74 votes (ranked #2 by T-G staff)

2) National Guard troops return from Iraq, 38 votes (#5 by T-G staff)

3) Police officer shoots Fermin Estrada Sr., 27 votes (#1 by T-G staff)

4) Eugene Ray elected county mayor, 22 votes (#4 by T-G staff)

5) Randall Boyce defeats incumbent sheriff Clay Parker, 22 votes (#3 by T-G staff)

6) Both SCHS basketball teams place second in state, 16 votes (tied for #11 by T-G staff)

7) Veterans Memorial Plaza completed and dedicated, 14 votes (#8 by T-G staff)

8) Beloved T-G columnist Dick Poplin dies, 9 votes (#7 by T-G staff)

9) BCMC gets permission to build new hospital, 5 votes (#9 by T-G staff)

10 - tie) After Holton's execution date set, he decides to live, 1 vote (#6 by T-G staff)

10 - tie) Perennial candidate J. Patrick Lyons dies, 1 vote (tied for #11 by T-G staff)

The 12th item on the poll, "Eastern European students spend months in Shelbyville as temporary workers," received no web site votes but had been ranked 10th by the news staff.

Voluntary, self-selected polls are not considered scientific because there is no way to guarantee that the people who choose to vote in the poll represent a true cross-section of the larger community. But we report such poll results from time to time as an interesting basis for discussion.