By PJ Williams
January
Top basketball players showed their skills at the M.O. Campbell center when the Academy National Tournament was held in Aldine.
Gene Green was sworn into office for his sixth congressional term.
Aldine ISD named a new school after long-time employee Jewell Simpson Houston.
February
Fifteen AISD senior football players earned college scholarships.
Aldine FFA students earned more than $78,000 at the 44th annual show.
Shuttle Columbia exploded above Texas. Aldine residents were mixed on whether NASA should continue to send humans into space.
Residents voiced opinions on possible war with Iraq, flooding, unemployment, and Medicare at Gene Greens town meeting.
Aldine YOUTH director Sylvia Bolling received recognition from METRO as an outstanding African American and from Iota Phi Lambda as Outstanding Woman of the Year.
March
AISD named a school after longtime trustee Doug Bussey and four administration buildings after former superintendent Sonny Donaldson.
Aldine ISDs desegregation order was lifted. The board studied challenges of unitary status.
Representative Ken Bailey began hearings on HPD Crime Lab misconduct.
April
The Harris County Health Department tore down 44 abandoned homes under the Nuisance Abatement Laws.
Area residents voiced their opinions about the war in Iraq through The View in the Northeast, signs, flags, and ribbons.
Aldine Improvement District (AID) kicked off a month-long Clean Aldine campaign, which featured Art Trash Cans.
AID also installed 87 new streetlights along Aldine Mail Route to improve safety.
May
Area residents re-elected three trustees to the Aldine ISD school board.
Caraway Intermediates assistant principal Kathy MacLennon quit after Agbar the drug dog found an illegal substance in MacLennons car.
Rep. Kevin Bailey and the 54 other democrats who left for Oklahoma to stop a vote on redistricting returned.
Vandals damaged schools in Aldine and Houston ISDs. Two different groups destroyed over 50 windows in Aldine.
June
North Forest ISD dismissed Superintendent Dr. Edwin Walker. The school board filled the position with Interim Superintendent Dr. Elaine Berry.
Local agencies adopted the Freeport Exemption.
AID approved new sidewalks along Aldine Mail Route.
July
Governor Perry called a special session to address redistricting.
Eastex Fire Department used a new Auto External Defibrillator to save Les Smith when he had a heart attack outside the Houston Shell Open.
Fire destroyed 16 apartment units at a complex on Goodson.
August
Congress people Gene Green, Chris Bell, and Sheila Jackson Lee visited Israel as guest of the American Israeli Political Action Committee.
Area residents celebrated National Night Out with community block parties.
A fire at the Rosewood Rehab Treatment Center on Crofton killed two residents.
The nations largest computer virus affected Aldine ISD and Harris County Sheriffs Department and local businesses.
September
Area teens shot two horses and two mules at a stable on Furay Street.
Oleson Elementary students were hurt when a bus from the Avella Company flipped after a collision on JFK.
The sheriffs storefront reopened on Aldine Mail Route after extensive remodeling.
October
An acid spill closed I45 for several hours.
A driver crashed into Thompson Elementary school.
The sheriffs police academy graduated over 25 citizens.
November
Voters approved the extended METRO rail lines.
Eisenhower graduate Sgt. Keelan Moss died in Iraq when the helicopter he was riding in crashed.
Local politicians dedicated a new Veterans Memorial Park on Tidwell near the Hardy Toll Road.
Heavy storms flooded area streets just a school ended. Many students waded home through knee high water and a few had to spend the night at school.
December
METRO announced planned light rail extensions to Northline Mall as its next phase.
Voters elected Bill White as Houstons new mayor.
Toys were stolen from a terminally ill teenager after he received a shopping spree. They were found in an apartment on Aldine Bender.