| The Story | The Messenger names its top 10 stories of the year and notes that it optimistically hopes "that next year's top 10 stories will all be good news." |
| News worthiness | *** |
| The Spin | The Spin optimistically hopes for more letters to the editor, the resurrection of New Fairview, more trailer home bashing by elected officials, angry mobs at every public meeting, and the birth of County Commissioner Smackdown. |
| The Story | The Decatur School Board chose Mr. Jim's Pizza over Pizza Pro to meet the school's needs of 50 to 70 pizzas a day at a cost of $6.50 a piece. (Little Johnny, by the way, will have to shell out between $12.00 to $14.00 to buy one). |
| News worthiness | * |
| The Spin | The Best Analogy Award goes to board member Stan Smith who wanted to be sure "we're bidding apples for apples". |
| The Story | In an effort to nab the seven prison escapees, law enforcement officers stop several vehicles on highway 380 on Wednesday after a tip from Denton county revealed that a white van occupied by "six or seven hispanics" was headed toward Decatur. |
| News worthiness | ** |
| The Spin | So what if only three of the seven escapees are hispanic. |
| The Story | Sixteen new births were announced in the Messenger. (See Sunday edition, page 6A). |
| News worthiness | * |
| The Spin | Thirty-eight percent of the births involved unwed parents. (This big time math is based on the assumption that every mother, if married, assumed the surname of her husband). |
| The Story | Two Ex-DAs form a law firm. |
| News worthiness (on a scale of 0 to 5) | * |
| The Spin | Since it was a very, very slow news week, we'll resort to a little shameless self-promotion. |