So much can change in 10 years -- or can it?

In 1998, there were problems counting ballots at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, Gov.-elect Bob Taft said he wanted to get rid of E-check, troops were fighting in Iraq and Don Plusquellic was Akron's mayor.

There were some changes – there were no Cleveland Browns. The Indians were owned by Dick Jacobs who sold public shares of the team and Ohio State blew a chance to go to the national championship game.

And there were bigger stories that were more memorable: John Glenn returned to space; Sam Sheppard got a new trial; A fireworks cannon tipped over, killing 12-year-old Lacey Seminsky at a Fourth of July display; The Cleveland Metroparks started using sharpshooters to thin deer herds; Audrey Iacona was released from prison; Pickle Bills burnt down; Ohio got its first woman governor; Mike White was Cleveland's mayor and sex offenders' names were first posted online –- on newsnet5.com.

Why the trip down memory lane? NewsChannel5's Web site, Newsnet5.com, is 10 years old and we were reminiscing about the stories we covered then.

The Web was just beginning to gain popularity in the 1990s. Surfing was the thing to do. Broadband technology was still developing to play more and quicker video.

Now there is YouTube, MySpace and Facebook, plus podcasts, Webcasts and primetime network shows online.

NewsChannel5 (WEWS-TV) was the first TV station in northeast Ohio to create a Web site. The site launched on May 11, 1998.

I had been the 6 p.m. news producer for six years before switching over to help develop and maintain the Web site. Our senior news editor Darlene Dunn has been here since the beginning, too. We remember the weekend before the launch, working extra hours to make sure we had enough content on the site. Now look at it -– stories and information go very deep throughout the thousands of pages.

We have learned so much since those early days and hope that you can tell how we have continued to develop and bring the stories and information you wanted.

Becky Sabo joined our staff almost five years ago. Being right out of John Carroll University, she added a fresh new outlook. So between the three of us, we have brought some longevity and stability to newsnet5.com. Alicia Kerrigan works closely with the NewsChannel5 sales team to get the ads on the site.

You won't find a harder working group of people. The staff works 15 hours a day and on call 24 hours a day.

It's been fascinating to cover the news across northeast Ohio online -- to learn what type of stories viewers look at most. You might be surprised to learn that the most bizarre stories, videos and slideshows tend to get the most viewership.

The most controversial subject we covered in 1998 was the posting of sex offenders' names online. Newsnet5.com was the first Web site in the country to post their names online. It was not a decision made lightly. The information was already available to the public. We just made it easier for them to access. Since that time, most county sheriff's departments offer the list on their sites.

We quickly learned that bad weather brings users to computers in droves. In fact, we were the first site in northeast Ohio to e-mail you when your child's school closed. Thousands of people signed up and have stayed with us through the years. We send out more than 1 million e-mails a month. We also have added several more e-mail newsletters. You can sign up, here.

Viewers have discovered that newsnet5.com is "always on."

That was true when major snowstorms hit northeast Ohio this winter and when we brought you gavel-to-gavel live coverage of the Bobby Cutts Jr. trial. Reporter Pete Kenworthy kept viewers updated with his minute-by-minute blog coverage.

The site has strived to bring you news events as they are unfolding. Live and exclusive Web coverage has been offered on several events.

One of the biggest events in the past year was the shooting at a Cleveland high school. Five people were injured when a student opened fire in school before killing himself. The site included live video reports, viewer images, viewer comments, updated news conferences.

I hope you got to see our special coverage of the Princess Diana exhibit that came to Cleveland, the information on Jack Marschall's gift –- donating his kidney and the Marine mom blog done by Phyllis Sossi. Her blog has been read by parent all across the country who have children serving in the military.

Our stories have been picked up by Web sites all across the country. We have made the Drudge Report a few times. We have also been featured on sites like Fark.com, Yahoo, CNN.com, MSNBC.com and many more.

Some of my favorite things on newsnet5.com include our Robocam. This special robotic camera was installed at the top of the Wyndham Hotel in downtown Cleveland in 1999. It has a fantastic view of Playhouse Square. The best part of this camera is that you control the view. You can zoom in close enough to see people eating in Star Plaza or see the license plate of a parked car.

But the webcam that has been a special pet project of my own is the ghostcam. Starting in the year 2000, newsnet5.com started setting up a camera in a haunted location to see if anyone could spot the ghost. The camera has been set up at Riders' Inn, Punderson Manor, the Hinkley library, the Warehouse on the Canal in Canal Fulton and a Medina bed and breakfast and an art studio in Burton, Ohio. These places are known to be haunted. I look forward to finding a new spot to set up our ghostcam each year. I hope you will check out our ghost section this October to see what spooky haunt we are investigating. (If you know of haunted locations, e-mail me.)

The site wouldn't be what it is today without everyone at the station. The photographers send us pictures and video, reporters share their hard work and the assignment editors deliver breaking news, court updates and other interesting stories that we can share with you.

Hundreds of thousands of people are clicking on newsnet5.com each month for information about news, weather, sports, entertainment -- just about everything! The site has become an extension of NewsChannel5.

It has given WEWS-TV the opportunity to serve the public with another news channel. And it has given the public more information at their fingertips than they've ever had before.

Thank You

We would like to thank you for clicking on our site -- not just today, but every day.

You have made the site the place people turn to for local news in northeast Ohio and we hope you will keep coming back. We have a lot of big events and giveaways planned in the coming months.

Thank you!