James Brown claims most interest in 2004's top stories

I always read the last page of a book first so that if I die before I finish, I'll know how it turned out.

- Nora Ephron

It seems as though every news organization and publication has wrapped up the "top stories" of 2004.

As usual, there were a lot of them.

Also as usual, the selections seem to depend on the opinions of the person doing the choosing. I wondered what stories people really seemed interested in.

Well, through the magic of the Internet, I can tell you the stories that generated the most interest on The Chronicle's Web site - augustachronicle.com. It's easy. The computer counts them.

Here are the headlines for the month's most-read story. With some I've added some explanation.

JANUARY: "James Brown arrested for domestic violence"

FEBRUARY: "Girl, 14, takes SUV, dies" (The story of an Aiken county seventh-grader.)

MARCH: "Employee is charged with theft." (The story of a Columbia County sheriff's employee's arrest.)

APRIL: "Woman's body is found." (The Tamara Dunstan case.)

MAY: "Plant worker shot during argument." (This was a shooting at the Carlisle plant in Trenton, S.C.)

JUNE: "Strangling victim was pregnant" (The death of Shanequa Carpenter.)

July: "Deputy injured in crash dies" (This was about popular Columbia County deputy Wesley Mack.)

AUGUST: "Crash kills high school student" (The death of a Greenbrier High student.)

SEPTEMBER: "Slippery conditions kill 6 near Augusta."

OCTOBER: "Drunk driver will face felony charge" (The driver was James Nicholas Guyse, charged in the death of a Cross Creek High student.)

NOVEMBER: "Train wreck kills 5"

DECEMBER: "Doctor's affair causes suspension of license"

Looking back over the past 12 months, the James Brown report attracted the most interest of any Chronicle story. A number of stories dealing with the death of Tamara Dunstan and the arrest of a suspect in her death filled out the local online top 10.

You're free to jump to your own conclusions.

l

TODAY'S JOKE: Like so many of our jokes in 2004, this one comes from Billy Cooper, of North Augusta.

An old wild west fort was about to be attacked. Its commander sent for his trusty Indian scout.

"Scout," he said, "you must use all your 30 years of skill in trying to estimate the sort of force we are up against."

The scout nodded, then went outside. Getting down on his knees, he put his ear to the ground for a few moments, then stood up.

"It's a large war party," he said "Maybe 300 braves, four chiefs, two on black stallions, two on white stallions. All have war paint. Many, many guns. The medicine man is also with them."

"Good grief!" said the general. "You can tell all of that just by listening to the ground?"

"No, " the Indian said calmly, "but I can see under the gate."