A look inside our city's uniqueness Tribune-Star compiles list of unique qualities that define city By Mark Bennet Lots of people make the claim. But often, they don't offer specific evidence. So we will name names. Yes, when Terre Haute's reputation is questioned, its defenders often counter by citing the city's colorful past and its unique qualities. True skeptics would then demand proof. Beginning with today's edition, the Tribune-Star will try to answer that skepticism with an eight-week series of stories titled "Terre Haute's Top 40." The newspaper's staff has compiled its own list of the 40 most unique features that define this town in a positive way. There are people, places and things on our list. Some seem obvious. Others may spark debate. But this project - the brainchild of Editor Max Jones - is meant to help Hauteans recognize our good qualities. "A lot of people say it, and a lot of people acknowledge it - that Terre Haute has a very rich fabric and a very colorful history. But those are very general statements," Jones said. "And you have to say, 'What do you mean by that?' So I started putting things on a list." He took that list and invited other staffers to add to it. Some nominations didn't make the final 40, and that's not because they aren't important or valuable. The idea is to pinpoint things found nowhere else or that link the rest of the world to Terre Haute in a positive way. We'll publish the stories Monday through Friday, highlighting one topic each day. The series begins today and concludes Sept. 23. The stories won't run in a ranked order, like a Casey Kasem Top 40. "It is not a countdown," Jones said. But because we're revealing the list just one day at a time, we're hoping for at least a somewhat dramatic finish. By its completion, virtually every newsroom employee will have contributed to it. Readers will get their chance too. To make it easier to follow, we'll compile the stories daily on our web site www.tribstar.com. At the end, readers can challenge our choices and "fill in the holes," as Jones put it. "That's what makes this sort of fun, because there are some fuzzy areas," he added. "Some are going to be more serious than others. And we've got those that aren't, and those may spark some controversy. And that's fine."

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