At the dawn of 2011, to borrow from the classic Monty Python sketch, a minute passed.

Roughly 525,600 more minutes were to pass before the ball dropped on 2011.

A pattern of conflicts, scandals and storms emerged. First came the damage, then the damage control:

Weird weather cleaned our clock. We pumped our collective basement.

An army of upstate Pennsylvania drillers poked ever more holes into the Marcellus Shale. Downstream, the city checked its drinking water.

The economy slouched toward –– what? Bedlam? Recovery? People cinched their belts and anchored "Occupy" tents in the West Chestnut Street Art Park.

Destiny tackled a grandpa-king of football and the crowd went ooooohhhh.

A celebrity just danced into town.

A strange minute passed ...

Here are the year's top 10 stories, ranked in descending order by their impact and prominence in the media:

1. Penn State, Joe Paterno and child sex-abuse scandals. Fans recently gathered in the rain outside Joe Paterno's house to sing "Happy Birthday" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

But the season for Paterno and his legions of Penn State Nittany Lions football fans has been anything but joyous.

The 85-year-old coaching legend was fired along with Penn State President Graham Spanier Nov. 9, shortly after news broke of child sex-abuse charges against retired defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

Students at Penn State rioted in opposition to the board of trustees' decision.

Prosecutors have said Paterno is not a target of a grand jury probe into a 2002 allegation against Sandusky.

Former graduate assistant Mike McQueary told the grand jury he had witnessed Sandusky molesting a boy in a school shower and that he had gone to Paterno and reported seeing something "way over the lines and extremely sexual in nature," raising the question why Paterno and others did not inform police.

Sandusky, who is retired, pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

Paterno, who is battling what his family calls a treatable form of lung cancer, deemed the scandal "one of the great sorrows of my life.

"With the benefit of hindsight," he said the day he was dismissed, "I wish I had done more."

The greatest legacies of the man affectionately called "JoePa" include a record 409 NCAA Division I wins. Paterno is known for making education a priority for his players and for molding the Penn State image for the past 46 years.

Some critics saw a silver lining in the scandal –– it renewed school attention on academics, they say, and away from the "football machine."

As Monday's bowl game approached, Penn State was heading into competition head coach-less for next season.

Three recruits have backed away from the football program in the wake of the molestation allegations and one committed to Ohio State.

Many fans remain aggrieved that their aging Hall of Fame coach was ousted under such a cloud.

Meanwhile, Lancaster County police and prosecutors say the county's sex crime rate has never been higher.

In the most recent high-profile case, former Lancaster Mennonite High School Assistant Principal Steven Geyer was charged Dec. 21 with indecent assault, corruption of minors and other offenses for alleged contacts with young male international students from South Korea.

2. Wacky weather. Earth may or may not be torqued at humanity. But last year's weather extremes sure made it seem that way.

Water was the main culprit.

2011 went down as the fifth wettest year in a century of record keeping, according to Millersville University meteorologist Eric Horst.

The rainfall total at the MU weather center was just under 53 1/2 inches, more than a foot above the annual average of 41 inches.

Water's accessories were debilitating heat, a freak, tree-busting Oct. 29 storm that dumped up to 10 inches of snow on the county's higher elevations, big winds and even a summer mini-drought.

(Going somewhat beyond the meteorological pale, there was also a nerve-rattling East Coast earthquake Aug. 23.)

Conditions radicalized right off the bat in January, when more than 20 inches of snow fell and temperatures huddled 3.7 degrees below normal.

The cold backed down in February and March but violent spring thunderstorms battered the region, with tornadoes touching down in York County in April and June.

Unseasonable warmth ruled April, May, June, July, September and December, thanks especially to the milder nights spawned by humid air masses.

"Warmth kind of outdid the coolness," said Horst, who noted that the mercury hit 103 degrees July 22, the highest reading since the July 3, 1966, record of 104.

Rain clouds then largely disappeared from the radar until, in early August, the state declared a drought watch.

"As soon as they pulled the trigger on that," Horst said, "it started raining. It was like dust to mud."

Hurricane Irene blew through Aug. 27-28 with powerful gusts and enough rain to saturate the ground for Lee, a tropical storm remnant that tore through a week later.

Lee, which dumped up to 16 inches of rain in the northwest part of the county, flooded basements and destroyed homes and roads throughout the Susquehanna River corridor and levered the 1885 Siegrist Mill covered bridge in Rapho and West Hempfield townships off its foundation.

Clouds and showers have often ruled the skies since. December was a skier's lament.

"Climate change probably has a finger in it," Horst added, but exhibit A is the La Niña climate pattern that has been pushing the jet stream north.

"Wild, wacky weather," Horst concluded.

3. Economy. The county also weathered financial storms.

Gov. Tom Corbett's administration slashed the state's education budget by nearly a billion dollars last year.

Local colleges and school districts, already beleaguered by shrinking tax revenues and dwindling federal aid, battened economic hatches.

The Manheim Township school board broke precedent Dec. 15 by voting to ask the state to allow it, if needed, to raise taxes beyond the district's Act 1 index of 1.7 percent.

On March 14, Hempfield teachers, whose district faces a multimillion-dollar deficit, became the first in the state to agree to a pay freeze.

Meanwhile, in November, Moody's Investors Service downgraded the county's bond rating from Aa2 to A1, casting its future finances in murkier light.

The county commissioners attributed Moody's action to their decision to balance the budget and keep a lid on taxes by spending down county reserves over the past four years.

Reserve-tapping picked up momentum last year, with Ephrata, Manheim and East Hempfield townships in the past few weeks alone going that route.

Some other municipalities, such as Penn Township, which was expected to double its millage in 2012, opted to raise taxes instead.

Protesters pitched camp in the city Art Park in October, adding a Lancaster voice to the national Occupy chorus calling for Wall Street regulation and economic justice.

4. Politics. Eighty three and one-half percent of county voters stayed home from the polls Nov. 9, seemingly reflecting the nation's growing disgruntlement with –– or at least detachment from –– politics.

The wheels of the system nonetheless continued turning.

County Commissioners Scott Martin, Dennis Stuckey and Craig Lehman easily captured second terms.

Lancaster City Council stayed in Democratic hands while GOP hopefuls generally prevailed in the county.

Voters in Pequea Township nixed a referendum to add two supervisors, a move that Chairman Harry Lehman said would have cut political squabbling.

Former Mayor Charlie Smithgall came to within about 500 votes of winning a City Council seat.

An asteroid that buzzed the earth on Election Day may have had more chance of scoring a hit than three Lancaster County Constitution Party candidates, who reportedly collected the necessary signatures to get on the ballot but were obliged to end their races before anyone could vote for them.

According to news records, Adele Callahan (register of wills candidate), Troy D. Bowman (prothonotary) and Kenneth L. Dinger (treasurer) withdrew their names after a law firm hired by the Lancaster County Republican Committee accused them of improperly filing nomination papers.

The candidates said they were worried about being stuck with the legal tab if they lost their case.

Longtime Rapho Township Supervisor Jere Swarr, a Republican, was charged with DUI a day after he defeated his Constitution Party challenger.

Chad A. George, a Democratic candidate for Manor Township supervisor, shut down his campaign in November after felony convictions for raiding his grandmother's bank account came to light.

Conservative Rep. Tom Creighton announced in December that he would retire in one year from his 37th Legislative District seat and drew fire for breaking a campaign promise not to accept a state pension.

Rep. Scott Boyd, a Republican lawmaker from West Lampeter Township, announced in September that he would not seek re-election to a sixth two-year term in the 43rd Legislative District.

Harrisburg's latest congressional redistricting plan was signed into law Dec. 22 by Gov. Corbett. The plan transfers a large part of the 16th Congressional District represented by U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts to the 7th District represented by U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan.

5. Prison problems. Three prisoners committed suicide at Lancaster County Prison, thrusting the lockup into the spotlight and leading to a debate over whether to dismiss veteran Warden Vince Guarini.

Prison officials said the first incident happened March 22 when John Kruger, 50, of Lancaster, who had been incarcerated on an assault charge, suddenly dived from a second-story cellblock at dinnertime.

Kruger died five hours later at Lancaster General Hospital, Guarini reported.

Matthew McNamara, 45, of Springfield, Delaware County, who had been incarcerated on charges related to a fatal vehicle crash, died July 24, three days after a jump in another part of the prison.

Another prisoner hanged himself in his cells.

Ronald Snyder Jr., 26, of Elizabethtown, was discovered Sept. 28. He was being held after failing to show up for a hearing on rape charges.

A fourth suicide took place in a cell at the Lancaster police station.

Madou Bathily, 24, of the 200 block of West King Street, had been accused of stealing a wallet with $1,000 cash from a Lancaster grocery store; he was found hanged Oct. 25.

Members of Have a Heart For Persons in the Criminal Justice System, a citizens group that has been scrutinizing the prison for two years, initially implored the county prison board to fire Guarini.

But Scott Martin, county commissioner and chairman of the prison board, said it was wrong to blame the warden for the deaths of men intent on killing themselves.

Guarini said the closing of state psychiatric hospitals has led to a rise in the number of inmates with mental health problems.

The prison's policies and procedures were reviewed in November.

A public forum that included families of prison suicide victims was held Dec. 14 in Lancaster's Trinity Lutheran Church.

6. Homicides. Nine homicides were reported, the same number as in 2010 (two of the 2010 homicides were related to vehicle accidents). The 2011 victims were:

•R. Tommy Stanley Jr., 40, of Lancaster.

Stanley died at Hospice of Lancaster County from a traumatic brain injury two weeks after getting into a fight with a stranger in Valley Township, near Coatesville, Chester County.

Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni ruled the death a homicide in September.

•Mark Lee McLaughlin. Police said the 41-year-old homeless man was beaten and drowned April 4 by another homeless man, Tyrick Donte Walker, 29, after an argument at a Susquehanna River tent encampment below Chickies Rock.

•Larry D. Marsh. The 41-year-old Marsh was shot and killed April 13 by a Special Emergency Response Team sniper after a lengthy standoff at Marsh's residence in an Earl Township mobile home park.

The SERT member has not been publicly identified. Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman pronounced the shooting justified.

•Diana Spencer, 33, was shot to death through the front door of her home in the first block of Old Dorwart Street on April 16 by a group of men who came looking for another man.

Facing the death penalty for the killing of the mother of four are Oscar Martinez, 19, Christopher "B" Lassitter, 24, and Jakwan "Ick" Green, 22.

•Spencer L. Houston was found shot to death in his home in the 400 block of New Holland Avenue on May 19. The 50-year-old victim was partially blind and otherwise disabled from severe effects of diabetes.

The murder remains unsolved.

•Patricia Ann Crouse, 39, was found strangled in the basement of her Marietta Avenue apartment July 8.

Pablo Ansurez Sanchez, 26, was ordered to stand trial in the killing.

•Allison Walsh, 21, and Alexandria Marie Walsh.

Walsh and her unborn baby girl died Aug. 12 in Mastersonville when a bullet was fired through the woman's head.

Boyfriend Matthew Becker, with whom she lived, has been charged with two counts of criminal homicide.

Becker has claimed the shooting was accidental.

•Robert Hampton, 28, formerly of Philadelphia, was found shot to death Aug. 31 in an alley between the 600 blocks of Poplar and St. Joseph streets.

Robert Baron Brown, 19, of the first block of East Andrew Street, was charged with the killing.

7. Marcellus Shale: The pace of natural gas fracking exploded last year in northern Pennsylvania, which became the epicenter of a national dialogue over the boom.

About 3,900 wells now pierce the ground, up from one in 2004.

The state Department of Environmental Protection has issued another 8,400 permits to drill and inject water and chemicals into the deeply buried, slightly radioactive rock to release gas.

Downstream from all the action is Lancaster.

City officials expanded the scope of their Susquehanna River drinking water testing last spring when it was learned that some drilling wastewater was being processed at municipal sewage treatment plants, then piped into streams.

Samples showed no contamination from radioactivity or natural bromide salts, which can ramp up the creation of cancer-causing compounds called THMs when processed for drinking water.

Meanwhile, a new watchdog group, Community Action Forum on Marcellus Shale Gas, held its first meeting March 23 at Franklin & Marshall College.

MU aquatic ecologist Dr. John Wallace mobilized students to catalog stream life in the gas range –– so there's a baseline against which to test the water in the future.

"You mark my words," Wallace said in November, "this will be Pennsylvania's environmental Armageddon if we do not do something now."

8. Letter R.I.P.? The U.S. Postal Service delivered lots of gloom-of-night news about local post offices.

More than one in 10 offices nationwide –– including two local retail branches –– might be closed to offset billions in lost revenue from sharply declining "snail mail."

The downsizing could also affect the Lancaster Processing and Distribution Center on Harrisburg Pike.

Up to 100 jobs at the center might be parceled out to Harrisburg, spokesman Raymond V. Daiutolo Sr. announced in February.

In July, the federal agency announced it was considering closing retail offices in Talmage and downtown Lancaster.

Another post office, Drumore, was burglarized last summer and has not reopened.

The Postal Service also unveiled plans last year to sell its 72-year-old downtown Lititz facility at East Main and Cedar streets and relocate the facility's retail workers to a 14-year-old carrier annex a mile north, on Wynnfield Drive.

A public meeting on the Lancaster city proposal was held in November at Reynolds Middle School and some residents in the 17603 ZIP code were surveyed by mail.

Residents were generally less than thrilled by the proposals.

Lancaster's post office is "a basic civic amenity that every downtown ought to have," county planner and consulting business owner Will Selman said last fall.

If it came to driving to Harrisburg Pike to pick up his mail, he added, "they would lose what business they get from me."

9. Dogs: It was a rough year on them.

Ronnie Burkman was found guilty of cruelty to animals for shooting a dog with a rifle last April 11.

District Judge Cheryl Hartman said Burkman killed and buried his pregnant 8-month-old pit bull in his city backyard after he decided he no longer could keep the pet.

About a month earlier, a young Shibu Inu had been thrown by an unknown person from a moving pickup truck on Route 30 in East Hempfield Township.

The dog, Sherman, was taken in by the Humane League of Lancaster County and had surgery to repair a dislocated hip and fractured pelvis.

On July 8, it was reported that more than two dozen dogs had been found wandering along roads in Drumore, Fulton and Little Britain townships.

That followed a December 2010 incident in which a woman found seven abandoned golden retriever puppies in Drumore Township, leading some to ask whether southern Lancaster County was becoming a dog dumping ground.

Meanwhile, the Humane League, which had previously raised its fees for taking stray dogs, announced in December that its municipal animal-control contracts had fallen sharply in number, from about 30 municipalities last year to eight in 2012.

Animal-welfare groups contended in November that the dog law that has significantly reduced the number of puppy mills since 2008 was losing its bite.

Two cases in point, they said, were the abrupt departure last summer from the Office of Dog Law of reformer Jessie Smith and the refusal by the state last fall to pull the kennel license of Nancy Zimmerman, the wife of a man convicted in 2010 of animal cruelty.

A coalition of 11 animal-welfare groups, including the Humane League, petitioned the Corbett administration to rescind Zimmerman's license but state officials said they had no legal grounds.

10. Agog over Gaga: Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta slipped into town.

That's Lady Gaga to you.

Rumors swirled in December that she was buying a house in Bent Creek, Manheim Township.

She is dating Taylor Kinney, an actor and 2000 Lancaster Mennonite High School graduate, who has family here.

Her first reported sighting here was in September when Gaga visited the Log Cabin Restaurant in Warwick Township, where she dined and downed her favorite whiskey, Jameson's, and anonymously accompanied a group to the Bulls Head Tavern in Lititz.

The pop superstar, returned to the county around Thanksgiving, when she was spotted in The 915 Cafe in Lancaster and in the meat aisle of the Giant store in Lititz.

She escaped grilling by the paparazzi but locals gave her a warm welcome.

"I think it's great," said the Log Cabin's Linda Eshleman. "I hope she had a wonderful time. We enjoyed having her."

Contact Sunday News staff writer Jon Rutter at jrutter@lnpnews.com.